Primal Instinct
by TheRadiantDawn
Summary: Sophie Pace was a simple girl trying to deal with the hardest part of her life: Being a teenager. What she didn't expect was to add 'being relentlessly hunted by a Predator to the list. Now, she must not deal with being alive, but staying alive as well. (Takes place during the movie Predators)
1. Thrill of the Hunt

It was said that being a teenager was the worst time of your life. Everything is changing both physically and emotionally and yet you are thrust into the most intense situations of your young life, discovering heartbreak, anxiety, low self esteem, high expectations, bullying, parents, and peer pressure along the way. It was a wonder to Sophie Pace how anyone survived. Some didn't, she quickly reminded herself. Any of these were enough to make anyone kill themselves. Many times Sophie had thought about just ending it. No one was cutting her any slack, including life itself. It seemed that only death would free her of these burdens. Sophie knew there were far worse things that could happen such as being raped or murdered. But, she never thought that being hunted down by aliens would be on the list.

Sophie sat in the principals office again. At least this time, this visit was somewhat legitimate. She rubbed her sore knuckles, which came from beating up Blaine Hopkins during gym class. There were a couple of scratches on her face that burned. The other times she was in the principals office was when Blaine and other students would band together to lie to teachers. No one will believe ten against one's word. It might as well have been ten against zero.

Until today.

It was just an ordinary day in gym class playing basketball when Blaine repeatedly hit Sophie with the ball. On the side, on the back, and even on the butt. He and his other friends would look and laugh with each other thinking they were so clever. However, it was game over when Blaine kicked the basketball, which hit Sophie in the face. Pain exploded throughout her left eye and skull. Sophie quickly got up and turned around, covering her tears with one hand and a veil of short dark brown hair. Don't cry, don't cry, don't let them see your tears, she repeatedly told herself. However, that pain and sorrow quickly melted away into rage.

Before Blaine knew what had happened, Sophie strode towards him and punched him square in the cheek. The blow caught Blaine off balance, who nearly tripped over his feet. Sophie then tackled Blaine to the ground, climbed on top of him and began punching him in the face. For a football player, Blaine sure sucked at fighting. He wasn't able to stop most of her punches. Blaine merely clawed at her face like an angry cat. She would merely bat his hands away and continue punching him. All the other classmates began crowding around and cheering "Fight, fight, fight!" in unison. Surprisingly, none of Blaine's friends helped him. A pair of strong arms wrapped themselves from underneath her arms and pried Sophie off of the bloodied Blaine. She continued to snarl at Blaine like an animal, attempting to lunge at him only to be restrained by Mr. Codwell. While Sophie was not a particularly violent person, she felt that she had no choice. After that, Blaine Hopkins never bothered her again.

* * *

What Sophie Pace didn't know was that someone else had been watching the entire scenario. A violence intended to end a violence only aroused a desire for more violence within the creature.

Invisible to the eyes and seen from above in the branches of a tree. He watched as the young _lou-dte kale_ screamed expletives at the young _ooman_ whom she defeated. Watching the fight had been the most amusing thing he'd seen all day. His orders were too observe the humans. A boring and tedious task. There was nothing interesting about these creatures aside from killing them.

That was, until this little suckling female came along. The _lou-dte kale_ had some fight in her and reminded him of the other females of his species: larger, stronger, and dominant. Pissing off a female was the stupidest thing a male could ever do. An angered female was far stronger than even an armed male. That made mating for his kind very complicated.

But, not this little _lou-dte kale._

She along with her entire species were pathetic and weak compared to his. However, that didn't mean that they weren't entertaining. Otherwise, there would be no point in hunting them. That was all their species existed for was mere entertainment.

Hunting and killing this female suckling was going to be entertaining.

* * *

Sophie felt relief after getting off the phone with her angry Dad. Her parents were at work and unable to pick her up. That meant that she could walk home by herself and do what she liked. Looking back on that, Sophie wished her parents could've picked her up. But then wondered if that would've changed anything or made things worse.

Sophie had left the school early with an ice pack taped to her knuckles. She opened her bottle of Mountain Dew and took a long drink. Almost immediately, she stopped and looked behind her. For no reason at all, Sophie had a feeling that someone was watching her. From the corner of her eye, she saw something move. Or at least, she thought she did. Sophie didn't see anything. Only what appeared to be a slight blur in the side of her vision. Sophie settled for that reasonable argument.

There is no reason to be unsettled, Sophie told herself. She was just tense after getting into a fight at school. She ignored it and continued down the sidewalk towards Bryson's house, which was just a block away. It was a warm spring day out in Los Angeles. The birds were singing and the sun was shining. This was the perfect day for Sophie to drink soda and play violent video games with Bryson.

Sophie had already forgotten about the strange feeling. She waited at his front doorsteps for her only friend for an hour. After school was out, Sophie spotted Bryson approaching, with his shortly trimmed brown hair and lank face. Upon seeing her, a smirk formed on his face. "Hey stalker," Bryson smiled. "Heard you beat up Blaine."

"I did," Sophie replied with a wider smile, holding up her bruised knuckles to him as proof as proof. Byrson slapped her on the side of the shoulder. "Wish I could've been there." he sighed with disappointment. They both stepped onto the porch to his apartment.

Together they played for hours. Call of Duty, Super Smash Bros., Kirby, 1980's Arcade games, and so on. Her mind was hazed by the extremely bright TV screen in Bryson's dark and smelly room, as well as all the soda Sophie had been drinking. The pixelated violence and gore didn't faze her but succeeded in taking her mind off the present. She and Bryson talked, laughed, and cursed throughout the day whilst playing the video games. Though her head and eyes were starting to hurt from playing so long in the dark. After looking at her watch, Sophie didn't even realize how late it had gotten.

Bryson turned the porch light on as Sophie stepped outside. She collected her backpack and an extra can of Mountain Dew. "Hopefully Blaine won't bother me anymore," Sophie said, although she wouldn't mind beating him up again.

"I don't think anyone will be bothering you anymore after that," Bryson laughed. Sophie couldn't help but snicker with him. After bidding each other good bye, Sophie walked down the porch steps from his apartment and into the night. She walked on the sidewalk underneath the streetlights, the only relief she got from walking in the middle of the night. Jame was dreading her return home. If her parents were home, she was so screwed. Her father had specifically instructed her to come home and basically do nothing, since the internet and video games were now off limits.

Walking in a train of thought, Sophie spotted the streetlights from a nearby side street suddenly go out, and to her shock, she thought she saw something move before disappearing from her sight. Sophie immediately wrote it off and looked away. The darkness of the night always brought out the paranoia within people. That was the basis for most horror films.

Sophie continued along her way with a light smile on her face until a loud scraping sound caught her attention. She was so startled by the noise that Sophie had jolted backwards. She looked across the other side of the road, in the direction of where it had come from. It sounded like someone had dragged a blade along a piece of metal. Sophie also noticed a street sign from where the metallic noise had came from. A street sign that had a metal pole. She immediately felt scared, but against all senses, Sophie walked across the street. She was determined to prove to herself that there was nothing to be afraid of. Though Sophie was absolutely certain she heard the noise. It was so ear-splitting loud.

She stood beside the pole for a moment before examining it. Through the darkness, Sophie noticed a long line running down the side of the pole. It felt rough to her fingers while the rest was smooth. It looked like someone ran a blade down its side. Looking back down the side streets, Sophie spotted the broken streetlights. She marched across the empty street to investigate. All the while feeling completely vulnerable out in the open darkness. Sophie approached the nearest streetlight, noticing the broken glass on the pavement. The light bulbs didn't just go out, she thought to herself. They were shattered.

In the middle of the glass, Sophie noticed an object resting in the middle of it. She got down on one knee and took it off the ground. It resembled a ninja star but Sophie didn't recognize the metal or the design. There was something almost science-fiction about it. She got up to walk further down the street, looking at the other lights, all somehow broken. There were more of these ninja stars in the shattered glass. Sophie picked up each one, which were almost the size of her hands.

Sophie then stood still, examining these strange looking ninja stars in the darkness. She didn't know if she was going crazy or if she was being stalked by a pack of ninjas. Someone had thrown these "ninja stars" at the streetlights while she was walking home. It couldn't have been Blaine and or anyone else for that matter. The streets were empty, or at least they looked to be that way. Sophie placed three of the "ninja stars" into her single-pocket sweater before holding the other in her hand for safekeeping. She quickly ran across the street towards the working streetlight.

As Sophie was about to continue walking, there was a loud thumping noise and someone had appeared only a few feet away from her. "What the _fuck?!"_ Sophie screeched, jumping backwards. It wasn't even a someone, it was a some _thing._ And it had just jumped out of nowhere in front of her. She quickly realized that this thing had jumped off of the streetlight above her. Had it been up there this entire time just watching her?

The creature stepped into the light allowing Sophie to see it properly. She wished that the creature had taken out the lights above them. Sophie was too horror struck to move or even take a breath, her brain was still trying to register what was happening. Then it cocked its head to the side while looking at her. Not only was this creature tall and large, but it was extremely muscular, which was the only thing that didn't surprise her seeing as how it jumped off a streetlight without breaking its ankles or so much as a drop of sweat. It had to be at least seven feet tall. There was no doubt that this thing was strong and resilient too. While its body was similar to a human's and had its face hidden behind a bronze metal mask, Sophie knew it was far from human. It appeared to have long, leathery dreadlocks for hair and was wearing various pieces of armor and weapons.

The creature was just standing there watching the horrified Sophie. It was like the creature wanted her to get a good look of itself. For a few more moments, Sophie continued to stand there unable to move or breathe, until she let out a slight gasp. The creature made strange clicking sounds, which terrified her even more. It extended its left arm forward in the direction of Sophie. With a swishing noise, a pair of long blades with a serrated edge shot out of the device on its wrist.

Sophie drew in a quick breathe with a horrific realization of what it had in store for it. She had already guessed that this creature's intentions weren't friendly from the way it terrorized her earlier. But this only confirmed it. The fear that once paralyzed her was now forcing her to move. Run, she told herself. No matter how futile it would be.

Sophie spun around and did just that, sprinting down the sidewalk as fast she had ever run before. She didn't dare look back, knowing that if she did, the last thing Sophie would ever see was that creature running its serrated blades right through her. But even then, Sophie knew that the creature could easily outrun and kill her.

To her surprise though, after running for what seemed to be about a minute, nothing had happened. She didn't hear the large creature thumping behind her like she thought it would. Sophie heard nothing from behind her. Despite being out of breath, Sophie decided to halt to a stop. It was probably the stupidest thing to do but either way Sophie figured there was no running out of this. When she dared to look behind her, the creature was no where in sight. And that terrified her even more. Sophie began to panic as her eyes darted everywhere looking for the creature. It disappeared as quickly as it reappeared. Although she was stricken with fear, the anger overcame her just like it did with blame. Now it seemed to clear her panicked mind.

She gripped her hands into balled up fists and stood defiantly with her legs apart. Sophie was every bit terrified but also every bit as angry. _"Where the fuck are you?!"_ Sophie shouted into the lit streets. "Just _leave_ me alone!"

Sophie was panting with anticipation for what would happen next. For a few moments, nothing happened and the silence was tearing her apart. Though she got her answer soon enough.

The streetlight from down the sidewalk exploded like the other ones did earlier. One by one they all were being shattered until the one above her did too. Sophie ducked and covered her head as the broken glass bits rained down on her. She let out a loud shriek. There was a metallic clang as another one of the creature's star-shaped weapons landed beside her. Now, the street was completely dark. The only thing she could hear were her quick and raspy own breathes.

She was in her own local neighborhood. Despite knowing that no one could help her, that being if they even made it in time, Sophie was too blinded by fear to hold it in any longer. _"Help!"_ Sophie screamed on the top of her dry and tired lungs. _"Somebody please help me–"_

Sophie was cut off when there was a loud shinging noise from behind her and felt two sharp pains rake across her back. She let out a loud cry of agony before collapsing onto the broken glass, which pierced her body and only worsened her pain even more. Looking behind her, Sophie saw what appeared to be fluctuations in the light. It suddenly dawned on her. The creature could turn invisible, or at least, partially. She could see a silhouette of the creature similar to a heat haze, but this would be hard for anyone to spot, especially in darkness. This allowed it to hide in plain sight...as well as hunt. Just like this monstrous being was doing to her.

The creature grabbed Sophie by the neck, its skin felt like a reptile's, and tossed her onto someone's lawn. Sophie let out a loud grunt upon impact. She must of weighed nothing to the creature seen as how it effortlessly threw her across the yard. The moment Sophie tried to get up, the creature grabbed her by the mouth, thereby preventing her from screaming, and slashed her left arm with its duo wrist blades. Her screams were muffled as the creature continued to cut and slash her across various parts of her body. After what seemed like an eternity, the creature dropped her limp body to the damp grass. Sophie let out a ragged cough before groaning in agony. Any scream or cry for help would earn her more cuts. She knew that now. Her vision was also getting blurry and she felt lightheaded. Sophie wondered how much blood she was losing.

Not that anyone could stop this monster. It was too powerful.

A couple of stray tears managed to escape from her eyes. "What...what the hell _are_ you?" Sophie whimpered. "Why...are you...doing this?"

The creature simply tilted its head at her like a curious cat would. The only answer she got were the clicking noises again. She wondered if the creature even understood her. Even then, Sophie was certain that there was no talking her way out of this one. She couldn't even talk her way out of an argument with her parents or her younger brother Jacob.

It didn't continued 'talking' or clicking at her, but rather, started fiddling with the device on its other wrist. Sophie expected more blades or some other weapon to pop out, instead, voices did.

In clear and proper English. Her eyes narrowed upon hearing it. _"Fight, fight, fight, fight!"_ the voices were chanting. She recognized these voices. This was from her fight with Blaine earlier today during gym class. Sophie could hear her own shrill and pained voice screaming swear words and other threats at Blaine, warning him never to pick a fight with her again. This creature had been there today and no doubt witnessed this fight. Sophie could only breathe, not understanding why any of this was relevant to attacking her.

"Are you here on Blaine Hopkin's behalf?" Sophie then let out a somewhat crazed chuckle. "Is that what this is?...payback?"

The creature said nothing, only retracting its wrist blades, much to Sophie's relief, only to pull out a hunting dagger from it's belt. Sophie wondered if it was going to finish her off. The creature moved closer and knelt down to grab her by the throat. It picked her up, holding her almost two feet off the ground and only inches away from its mask. Its grip was cutting off all the air from her neck. Sophie felt for sure that her head was going to explode from how tight it was holding her. Plus, being held by the neck above her ground wasn't helping either.

She could hear the slight clicking from behind it. Sophie also heard a slight metallic chink from her sweater. Her eyes went wide as she suddenly remembered placing the creature's "ninja stars" inside her sweater pocket. Renewed hope to fight back immediately surged through her. The fear dissipated for only a moment. But it was enough to fight back.

As the creature prepared to disembowel Sophie with its large hunting knife, she had already reached into her pocket, grabbing its "ninja star", and slamming it into the creature's neck. The creature let out a loud animalistic roar akin to a lion's, dropping Sophie in the process. It clearly didn't remember that Sophie had collected it's star-like weapons it had thrown at the streetlights earlier. Despite the sharp pain and amount of blood she was losing, it was as if none of that mattered to Sophie. The adrenaline was causing her to ignore it and run for dear life, which she did.

Sophie couldn't believe that she had managed to out best this nearly invincible creature. Maybe it wasn't as invincible as she thought it was. Or at least, as smart. Although she couldn't feel her pain as much, the cuts to her leg prevented her from sprinting. Sophie was limping down the street towards her house. No, she couldn't endanger her family like that. Sophie stopped in her tracks and turned around to face the enraged creature.

She put on her brave face as the creature stood a couple yards away from her, clutching its profusely bleeding neck with it's arm with the wrist bladed device. To her surprise, its blood was a luminescent green. It almost looked like that glow-in-the-dark green goo you would see in television commercials. The creature wasn't dead, nor did Sophie expect it to be, but it sure as hell looked pissed off. Sophie couldn't stand anymore. She fell down to the cement ground before her.

She was absolutely exhausted from all the running as well as the blood loss. The pain in her numerous lacerations across her body didn't help either. I'm fifteen years old, I don't deserve this. Sophie told herself.

The creature merely walked towards her although Sophie noted that it was guarded this time. Sophie turned her head to look up at it. She couldn't see the color of its eyes through the mask but Sophie could still feel the wrath of its stare. "Is that all you got?"

The creature let out a roar in aggravation for her defiance, before kicking her in the face. The blow knocked her over to the side. It was a wonder to Sophie how she didn't break her neck from the impact. Instead of screaming like before, Sophie began laughing. It almost sounded like she had lost her mind. She was in no position to be laughing but she did anyway. If this creature was going to kill her, Sophie would make sure it didn't get any pleasure from it. "How does it feel? To have been stabbed in the neck with your own weapon?" Sophie taunted before snickering. "By a one hundred pound, fourteen year old girl? I thought you were nearly invincible. _Clearly,_ I was wrong."

That seemed to be the last straw for the creature as Sophie knew it would be enraged by her taunts. Sophie was too injured and too tired to care about her life anymore. There was no escape. The creature let out another roar before drawing the two blades from the device on its arm again. It charged after her several feet away in only a couple of short strides, raising its arm to stab her with the wrist blades and end her life. Sophie closed her eyes.

However, instead of feeling two sharp blades gut her, she heard a loud _shing!_ noise, like the clashing of metal. When she dared to open her eyes, Sophie couldn't believe what she saw. Another creature like the one attacking her appeared, it had deflected the blow Sophie was about to recieve from a weird looking spear. It... _saved_ her? Sophie couldn't believe it.

The other creature that appeared seemed to be different from the one that had been hunting her. It was bigger, wore more armor, and had several scars decorated all over its body. Immediately, the creature backed away and retracted its wrist blades. The other creature sounded angry as they conversed in a series of clicking noises. Sophie couldn't understand them but knew what they were arguing about. This creature was probably older, probably the other one's superior officer or father or something. Whatever relation they had, it was clearly reprimanding the younger creature in a harsh tone, before smacking it in the face. Letting out a whine, the younger creature bowed its head to the superior and was quiet. The elder waved an arm and motioned for it to leave. Sophie watched as the youngling pressed a couple of buttons on its device, turning invisible once more. She had no idea where it went off to but was nonetheless glad it was gone.

Her train of thought was smashed when the older creature turned its attention to Sophie, who tensed in response. She could only wonder what would happen to her now. Maybe this creature wanted to steal the younger one's kill. There was no way she would be making it out of this alive. Sophie had already accepted that five minutes ago. After stepping in front of her, it knelt down on one knee and placed a hand on her shoulder. It seemed to be examining her wounds, its scaled fingers felt weird on her bloodied and sweaty skin.

The creature didn't appear to want to hurt her given that it wasn't attacking her. But, the other one had been toying around with her before finally deciding to harm her. Maybe this one wanted to do the same as well.

Sophie winced when it touched the long gashes across her back, pulling out a piece of glass from it. "Are you going to kill me or what?" Sophie asked in an angered tone, irritated from all its proding and poking. She already knew the answer but was tired of having her pain prolonged any further.

To her surprise, it answered her. "No..." the creature said. "Apologies...youngbloods...are so eager...to hunt."

Her jaw hung wide open. It spoke to her, in clear English. Sure, the creature sounded like it had swallowed a porcupine, but it could speak her language. That only made Sophie wonder just how much these creatures knew about her planet and species.

"Wha...youngbloods?" Sophie mumbled with a mix of confusion and disorientation. She couldn't concentrate with the blood loss and her injuries.

"Not Blooded warriors...youngbloods...are not to hunt humans," the creature responded as carefully and clearly as it could. "Least of all...child-bearers..."

Sophie already knew these creatures hunted her kind. She kinda guessed that from earlier. But now there was some sort of warrior code that prevented 'youngbloods' from hunting humans. She was trying to keep up with this warrior but honestly only cared for her life at this point. Maybe there was a chance she could make it out of this alive.

The hunter spoke good despite English not being its first language and having to wear a mask. She noticed that there was a marking on the mask that the other one didn't have. That must have shown that this one was a warrior. "He was...only supposed...to observe..."

Sophie let out a snort at that, slightly lifting her bloodied wrist. "Your buddy...kinda sorta... _didn't."_ she spoke softly, letting out a rough cough. The hunter nodded its head once with acknowledgement. "And still...you...fought...back..." it stated, almost in an impressed tone. "Got...Kvar'thwei...in...the neck."

"I didn't fight, I ran around...screaming and being terrified..." Sophie sighed. "But yeah, stabbing him in the neck...guess that counts...as fighting back."

That thing that attacked her had a name? _Kivarthway?_ Was that it? It was hard to tell with the clicking noises helping pronounce the name. She nonetheless listened for this creature's answer.

 _"Oomans_...so...clever..." the older hunter stated, tilting its head to the side. "They...provide...a good...hunt. But...we...do...not...hunt...child...bearers... _normally."_

"Lucky me."

Her eyelids were starting to droop. Sophie was certain she was going to pass out any second now. She couldn't so much as move without pain shooting throughout her body. Plus, with all the blood she knew she lost, it felt better to Sophie to lay on the ground. "You wouldn't by chance...mind dropping me off...at my house...or a hospital...would you?" Sophie grumbled with pain.

The creature retracted its other worldly like spear before slowly and carefully sliding both of its arms underneath her, lifting her up with no effort at all. Sophie inhaled sharply from the sudden pain. She took that as a yes. "Your...house?..." the older hunter asked.

Sophie pointed at the house they were in front of. "It's the building...behind this one..." she directed him.

It strode into the driveway, Sophie was worried about being seen. There were lights inside the house which meant that people were in it. But she said nothing. This creature seemed to know what it was doing. To her immense shock, the hunter merely jumped onto the roof of the house, landing with a mere thump. She clung onto the older hunter's armor for dear life after that. The inhabitants of this house were no doubt probably spooked from the sudden thud on their roof. Hopefully, they thought of it as just a ghost.

The hunter walked across the tiled roof until they reached the edge of the house, and already knowing that they were going to jump, Sophie closed her eyes and held on tightly to the creature. She embraced for the feeling of free fall, but dreaded the landing the most. Sharp pains shot up through her body just as she expected. Luckily, it was only about a fourteen foot drop.

Now, they were in the backyard of her house. The porch lights were on with her parents home, which made the hunter reluctant to expose itself. "This is far enough..." Sophie then said, sensing how uneasy the creature was about drawing closer. It gently laid Sophie onto the grass. She let out a sigh of relief that her ordeal was now over.

The hunter stood up as she looked back at him, now curious as to what was behind its mask. Being rescued and taken to her house was the last thing Sophie expected to have happen to her tonight. Then again, she didn't count on being hunted and attacked by an alien creature either. "Thank...you..." she breathed.

Sophie wanted to say more but those were the only words she could muster. The older creature nodded and without further adieu, activated his cloaking device. The girl didn't hear the hunter leave. But Sophie knew he was gone.

Sophie let out an exhausted sigh, thinking about what the hell she was going to tell her parents. She was certain that no one would believe her hence why the other hunter let her live. At least this would get her out of trouble with Blaine Hopkins earlier. She was attacked while walking home...yeah, that would work. Sophie pulled out the other three starry-like weapons that were still had hidden in her now bloodied sweater pocket. Those, along with the numerous scars across her body she was bound to have from her injuries, would be the only proof she had that this night had occurred.

* * *

 **Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this. I watched some of the Predator movies, including the awful ones like Predator 2 and AvP: Requiem. It inspired me to write a story about it, kinda because I hope to bring some justice to the series even if it isn't canon. I'm excited for the new one that's coming out in a year or so. Just to let you know, this takes place four years before the Predators movie with Adrien Brody and Eric Foreman. Things will pick up shortly after this, I promise.**

 **Yautja terminology:**

 _Lou-dte kale_ \- means "child-bearer". It's used as an insulting term as demonstrated from Kvar'thwei repeatedly referring Sophie by it. But like he said earlier, only a foolish male Yautja would say this to a female Yautja's face. I'd say it's equivalent to saying the N-word to a black person by Yautja standards.

 _Ooman_ \- means "human" basically.

Got this from the Predator wiki if you're curious.


	2. Awkward Introductions

"I don't wanna wear a dress." Sophie mumbled to herself.

Her mother Irene either didn't hear her or ignored her. She was determined to have her baby wear a nice dress for her high school graduation. It was said that graduating from high school was like graduating from hell. Things would only get better from here on out. Sophie knew that was a lie. They hadn't seen hell like she did. The horrible scars all over her body reminded Sophie of that every single day.

Her five-year old brother Jacob was having more fun than Sophie was. Not for picking out dresses like Irene was, but running around the mall doing what he liked. Jacob was more interested in the Lego section. Sophie was told to keep an eye on him while Irene collected a couple of dresses. She would've kept an eye on him anyway. There were murderers, rapists, and thieves out in this world that would love nothing more than to harm a little boy like Jacob. Or a young adult like Sophie.

But now they had to add alien hunters to the list too. Sophie, Jacob, Irene, her father Jeffrey, none of them or their species were safe from these monsters. Her scars bore testimony to that. The first couple years were hell for Sophie. The crippling anxiety and nightmares were as horrific as that one fateful night.

That night had happened over four years ago, yet every night she relived that horror. The darkness and nighttime terrified her. She basically had to overdose on trazodone and other sleeping pills in order to make it through the night. It didn't seem like the daytime made it any better. Sure, Sophie had told her folks that a gang had done this to her. But, it still tore her apart that Sophie couldn't tell the truth to her family and friends without them sending her to an insane asylum.

The counseling and the pills were really not helping. High school was not helping, in fact, she had just barely managed to graduate. The only thing that kept Sophie going was her family. Her parents had supported her every step of the way, no matter how frustrating her slow recovery was taking. Though to be honest, Sophie knew she would never recover from that night.

She didn't even know if she could make it through this night. Irene wanted Sophie to wear a dress more than she did herself. Her mother wanted to go to the mall shopping as was her favorite hobby. Sophie didn't want to be like this anymore. She certainly didn't want her parents to suffer because of her any longer. So, she smiled and bore with it.

But it got even worse when Sophie went to try the red dress on. She looked at herself in the mirror. _It's a beautiful dress on an ugly mannequin,_ Sophie thought to herself.

It was a simple spaghetti strapped dress that reached the middle of her thighs, which bore her scars openly to the world. The duo wrist blades that the youngblood had wielded left their mark on every limb of her body. Now, Sophie felt ugly.  
There was a slight rapping on the door. "Can I see you?" Irene asked.

Reluctantly, Sophie opened the door but there was no smile on her face. No enthusiasm as she stepped out from the dressing room. Jacob was jumping on the couch in the waiting room. Irene gasped, but not in horror like most people would, but with delight. She ruffled her daughter's slightly wavy brown hair. "You look so beautiful, Soph!" Irene stated. "Do you want the dress?"

"Just as much as I want these scars," Sophie answered.

Irene let out a sigh, placing her manicured hands on her daughter's bare, scarred shoulders. She was serious now. The same blue eyes they shared met each others. "Honey, no one cares about the scars." Irene told her daughter, trying to comfort Sophie. It didn't make her any more comfortable that everyone knew about her scars, or at least thought they did.

"I do, and they're ugly."

"They're not ugly, you could never be ugly. I don't care if you transformed into a orange dinosaur with pink spots tomorrow. You're my daughter." Irene professed, placing her hand on Sophie's cheek. "And you shouldn't have to hide. There's nothing to be afraid of anymore. You're safe now."

Sophie could already feel herself tearing up. The daughter she knew died years ago after that close encounter with death. After realizing that they weren't the only ones in this universe after all.

A couple of tears strayed from her eyes as she looked up to her mother. "I'll never be safe. No one on this planet is safe from them." Sophie replied in a monotone voice. She quickly wiped away her tears. Irene looked down at the floor, all the happiness drained from her face. No matter what Irene did it seemed like it would be enough to set Sophie off. Irene and Jeffrey tried so hard to prevent that. Recognizing the familiar disappointment in herself, Sophie stepped forward and hugged her mother.

"I'm sorry, Mom." Sophie answered. "I ruin everything."

"You do not," Irene sternly replied. "The only ones I blame are the people who did this to you."

 _They ruined me,_ Sophie thought. _I am a ruin of what I used to be._

Her mother withdrew from the hug. Wiping the tears starting to form in her own blue eyes. Irene moved a couple of dirty blond strands from her face, back behind the nice bun she always put it in. "Let's go home, you're not comfortable here." Irene smiled, before hollering to Jacob to get over here. She let out an irritated groan when she saw the five-year old boy messing around with the piles of ladies underwear. Irene scolded Jacob before dragging him towards Sophie, who couldn't help but smile at the scene.

Sophie would never be comfortable. Those things existed and hunted her own kind regularly. By the time they reached the glass doors, it was already pitch black outside. Well, it was six o'clock. That was why Sophie hated fall the most. It got darker more quickly than spring or summer. "I have to go pee pee!" Jacob complained, grabbing his crotch with both hands. Irene rolled her eyes before dragging him to the bathroom. "Be right back, Soph." she grumbled, digging out her keys. Irene promptly tossed them to her daughter. "Meet you in the car."

Sophie smiled with a slight nod. Waiting outside the bathroom, she peered into the nearly empty parking lot. There was no way Sophie was going into that dark parking lot all by herself. She was eighteen and almost graduated from high school, yet Sophie would never go anywhere in pitch black darkness without family or friends. That hunter said that they didn't hunt females, yet one of their own attempted to do so. There were always going to be people who broke the law. Now, Sophie knew that was something all species did.

Maybe it was time to start being brave again. Her parents weren't going to be around forever. Sophie had no idea how she was going to ever move out and live by herself. But, if Sophie couldn't cross an empty parking lot by herself, she knew she was doomed. It was always a debate between paranoia and this new reality. Maybe there was no reason to be paranoid anymore. Maybe it was just a one time incident and Sophie would never encounter that species again.

A walk across the lot.

It sounded so fucking simple, yet it wasn't. Sophie looked at the keys and let out a sigh. She was going to jump off the diving board into the waters now. After pushing herself through the door, Sophie strode confidently across the dimly lit lot to her mother's car. The cold wind blew harshly against her. As Sophie went to unlock the door, the wind blew even harder. Her short brown hair was blowing over to the other side of her face. Annoyed, Sophie simply pushed it out of the way. But the wind grew stronger and stronger. There was a loud roaring of an engine from above her and Sophie immediately knew this was no wind.

A blinding light shone from above as well. Sophie covered her eyes with a hand, looking above her. She couldn't see anything from the light and the fact that it appeared out of nowhere. Sophie quickly saw the heat haze outline. It was the cloaking technology that those alien creatures had used years before. Only this time it was used on an alien ship!

Before Sophie could react, there was a loud snapping sound from the ship. A vine-like metallic claw darted out and grabbed Sophie by the wrist she was using for shade. In a millisecond, it had jerked her towards the ship. Sophie let out a startled yell as she was taken inside the ship. The small door slid shut from behind her and Sophie was in utter darkness again. The next thing she felt was the prickle of a needle. Sophie let out a scream when she felt those familiar scaly hands touch her again. She collapsed backwards, hitting her head on a wall, but now her strength was draining from her. That monster must have drugged her. The last thought Sophie had was cursing herself for betraying her instincts for a single second these past four years. Now, they had captured her.

Irene walked hurriedly across the lot towards her car. There weren't too many other cars at the mall during this time of night. She slowed her walk upon seeing that Sophie wasn't in the car. Jacob skipped on ahead towards the white SUV. Irene immediately dreaded the worst, but quickly calmed herself. Sophie wasn't one to go outside in the dark anyway. She didn't know why she gave her the car keys to begin with. Soph was probably still inside looking around. Though another voice from the back of her mind told her that Sophie would never do such a thing. Irene turned around to walk back inside when she noticed something shine from the corner of her eye.

Irene slowly knelt down to pick up her car keys. Her blue eyes went wide with terror upon realizing that something bad had happened to her beloved Sophie again.

* * *

Sophie slowly came to upon feeling something touching her neck. Her eyes snapped open, disoriented and panicked. Her vision was blurry but she could clearly make out a figure kneeling beside her. Sophie let out a loud screech, which startled the man, who fell backwards and hit the back of his head on a branch. She could hear him groaning.

Sophie was trying to quickly regain her bearings, staggering to her feet, trying to adjust to her own weight. But was blinded by the daylight streaming through the trees. She knew she was somewhere in a jungle from the monstrous tropical trees, plants and bushes, and vines, which obscured vision in all directions. Beams of light streamed through the openings in the foliage in what seemed to be a hundred feet above. Sophie could hear the buzz of insects, along with the occasional cries of birds and monkeys, breaking the eerie silence.

It was haunting. Unfamiliar. Humid. And hot as hell.

Sophie stared all around her in a state of shock. There was only one question going through her head: What the fuck?

That's when she remembered.

She was abducted by that invisible alien ship. It sounded stupid until it happened to someone. Sophie had no doubt that it was by that very same monster that attacked her four years ago.

She twisted and turned at every angle, looking for the monster, wondering where she was. Her mind couldn't register. It was the nightmare she had every night. Except this. WAS. FUCKING. HAPPENING. AGAIN.

The man let out a loud groan, rubbing the back of his head. "Thanks for scaring the shit out of me, kid." he grumbled. Sophie was acutely aware of everything. Her head bolted to every corner and crevice of the jungle that she could spot.

"Where am I?" She demanded. "Where's the alien?"

"Alien?"

Now, Sophie was beginning to tremble. She dreaded looking around every piece of plant life around her. Certain that the alien hunter was watching her once more. Her eyes were wide with fear.

"The alien!" Sophie then shouted. "It took me up in its fucking mothership and now I suddenly wake up here!"

"Alien..." the man repeated, staring hard at the grass as if remembering something. Sophie wasn't too focused on what the man was saying, even though he was holding a gun in his hands. That was nothing compared to the threat they were facing now.

"Hey, uh, kid, you got a name?" he then asked.

"My Daddy told me never to talk to strangers," Sophie said in a serious, but mocking tone.

That only made the man roll his eyes. He nonetheless told him his own name. "I'm Royce."

Suddenly, something crashed through the canopy of trees, bashing against trunks, clipping branches, before finally hitting the ground. Sophie let out a shrill shriek, jumping away from it. She looked up to see a parachute stuck in the trees. No, _someone_ crashed through the trees.

 _"Mierda! Mierda!_ _Mieeeeeeeeerda!"_ Shouted the voice of another man. It sounded like he was speaking Spanish. The man ripped off the strapping to the parachute, landing only a few feet away. Sophie was able to get a closer look at the man. He was of Hispanic decent and appeared to be in his late sixties or so, but appeared to be in really good shape. The man almost had as many tattoos as the number of scars that Sophie had, although he had scars of his own. The Hispanic man turned to Royce, immediately pulling out two small submachine guns from his belt and aiming them at him.

Royce raised one hand to the Hispanic man. "Calm down," he told him.

"Hey, fuck you!" the Hispanic man responded.

 _Hostile, much?_ Sophie thought. She immediately noticed Royce slowly grabbing the pistol strapped to his thigh.

"Calm. Down." Royce said in two separate and distinct words.

The Hispanic man did the same too, bearing his teeth at Royce with anger. "Fuck. You."

However, their friendly exchange was interrupted by mini-gun fire, causing the Hispanic man to run through a bunch of leafy bushes. Sophie fell flat on her stomach, covering her head. She had no idea where Royce went off to but the gunfire did stop after a good thirty seconds.

Royce had managed to circle around the fire to find the shooter, before sneaking up on the guy and aiming his gun at his. "Please stop doing that," he nearly snarled in his gruff voice. Sophie approached cautiously, armed with nothing.

The shooter was a Caucasian man with the frightening size of a bear, armed with a four barreled rotary machine gun, its barrel still smoking. He looked like he was in the army although Sophie could find no dog tags around his neck. The man responded in Russian. The only word Sophie recognized was 'Nikolai'.

"Your name is Nikolai?" Sophie asked. The man named Nikolai responded once, somewhat calmer upon seeing the kid.

Awkwardly, she decided to give her own name. "I'm...Sophie."

Royce didn't answer him as he turned his attention else where. Sophie could hear it too, muted voices from within the jungle. Royce moved towards the voices. Unsure of where to go, Sophie eventually settled for following Royce. Nikolai didn't follow, stunned by what was going on. Cuchillo awkwardly followed after them, not wanting to be left behind. Royce was slicing through the thick vegetation with his machete, towards the voices, all the while panicked and shouting in languages that Sophie didn't understand.

After stepping into a clearing, Sophie saw parachutes strewn about. She heard a bunch of commotion in what sounded like a man shouting in English with a woman yelling back in another language. Possibly French? She recognized the accent.

Heads and weapons turned to Royce and Sophie, as they appeared. There stood a woman with a long, black braid and jeans and a button down shirt. She was pretty, but fierce as she lifted up her sniper rifle towards them.

Sophie raised her hands in surrender, also indicating that she meant no harm. Royce also raised his hands. To her relief, the woman didn't fire at them. The other man was not as pretty. He was a middle aged white man with a shaved head, scorpion tattoo on his neck, and wore an orange prison jumpsuit. He held a prison shiv in his hand, before holding it threateningly towards Royce and Sophie. "I'm gonna cut you! I'm gonna fucking cut you!" The man shouted. "I'm gonna carve my name into your chest!"

 _"Is everyone around here a deranged psychopath?!"_ Sophie shouted in utter aggravation. He stopped raving when a hand wrapped around his mouth, a blade pressed firmly against the main artery in his neck. He materialized from the forest out of nowhere, almost as stealthy as the alien hunters. He was black and had to be in his early twenties, but Sophie thought he looked older by the way he acted.

In an African accent, the new intruder stated, "Put down your weapons or he dies."

Sophie let out a loud snort, lowering her hands. "Go ahead, kill him. I don't know this asshole."

The confused group looked to one and another with paranoia and panic. Only a thread away from someone pulling a trigger. Nikolai was about to say something until Royce motioned for him to keep quiet. The Hispanic man, whom Sophie decided to just call Cuchillo, emerged from the bushes. He surveyed the new arrivals as well as everyone having their guns and/or knives on each other.

"Can someone fucking tell me what the _fuck_ is going on?" Cuchillo yelled.

"I said I'm going to cut his throat." said the black man, still holding the prison guy hostage.

Sophie crossed her arms. "And I say do it because I don't fucking care!" she hollered. As much as she hated violence and death, Sophie did not care for the life of a criminal that threatened them with a makeshift knife.

Royce slowly started towards them, not making a word with them. Slowly, the woman did too. Nikolai soon joined in. Cuchillo was not far behind. The black man must have realized the futility of his threat given that he had a knife while everyone else, except for Sophie, had a gun.

He shoved the prison guy to the ground. The two exchanged looks that said 'this isn't over by a long shot'. They strode off in different directions, glaring at each other all the while.

Now, it was just the five of them. Or so they thought.

Another figure stepped out of the bushes, having been there the entire time. He was a slender man of Japanese decent, wearing a nice dark suit with a white tucked in shirt. He also had a Beretta in his worn shoulder holster along with a katana. He said nothing, only observing the new company. To Sophie, he seemed to be calm and collected. There was no panic in his eyes.

Sophie decided to interrupt the awkward introduction, turning to Cuchillo. "In answer to your question, we were all abducted by aliens."


	3. Jungle Trek

After that lovely introduction, Sophie learned their names. The fierce woman was named Isabelle, the black guy was named Mombasa, the prison asshole guy was named Walter Stans (a perfectly fitting name for a creeper), and after much prodding the Japanese samurai-like guy was named Hanzo. Cuchillo liked the name that Sophie gave him and decided to keep it. His gaze towards her immensely freaked her out, so Sophie stuck close to Isabelle, being the only other female in this 'group'.

Royce pushed through some foliage and came to a stop. A shallow creek ran before him. There was a small man of Caucasian decent, glasses, beige slacks, and a white T dangling above the water from his harness. The parachute was stuck in the tree.

"Mind helping a brother out?" he asked.

Sophie let out a sigh, deciding to wade through the water to untie him. There was a loud bang! Royce had fired his shotgun, blowing off the branch the man was dangling with, causing him to splash loudly into the stream.

All eyes were instantly on him.

Royce merely shrugged. "Takin' too long." He reasoned to his unwanted friends. The man crawled out of the water, coughing a few times. A trickle of blood traveled slowly along the side of his face. Sophie also noticed blood on his hands.

"You're bleeding," Isabelle stated.

The man merely looked at his hands. "Oh, that. It's not mine." he smiled up at her with the innocence of a child.

Sophie let out a groan. Another deranged psychopath to add to the group. Royce regarded the new group. "You said we were kidnapped by aliens? What do you mean by that?" he asked Sophie, who was shocked he even asked again. She thought for sure they threw her story out of the list of possible explanations for their arrival here.

"I don't know about you guys, but I was attacked by some sort of monster before it abducted me and took me aboard its ship." Sophie said, earning her loathing looks from some of the group. "I know it sounds stupid but how else do you explain magically appearing here?"

Nikolai scratched the back of his neck. "War."

Mombasa nodded. "Same here."

"I was...working and uh..." Cuchillo began. Sophie noticed him hesitate there for a moment, she guessed he was probably involved in a shoot out. "And then there was a bright light and everything just..."

"Stopped." Stans finished for Cuchillo.

Isabelle had a puzzled look on her face. "...I don't remember. What about you, Roy?"

 _"Royce,"_ he corrected her. "I was walking home from the bar when..." Royce stopped for a moment. Sophie recognized that look in his eyes. The confusion. The fear. Everyone else was waiting for his answer. After gathering the right words, Royce continued. "I was being chased...by what I can only describe as a monster. There was a white light and then I woke up while falling from the sky." Royce then looked over to Sophie. "What you described to me doesn't sound to different from what I went through."

Stans eyes lit up with an idea. A thought was forming, which Sophie guessed didn't happened too often. "Wait. Maybe we're all dead."

"We're not dead, you idiot," Sophie snapped, her voice filled with utter disregard for the criminal. To her surprise though, everyone seemed to be considering that a distinct possibility. Sophie put her hands on her hips. "You can't be serious."

"Oh, and being kidnapped by aliens is supposed to be more believable?" Mombasa snorted.

Isabelle shot him a look. "Last I checked, you didn't need a parachute to to die."

That seemed to shut Mombasa up. Nikolai spoke after moments of reflecting. "Why put us here though?" he asked.

"Because we're all part of a good game," Sophie simply answered.

Stans and Cuchillo let out a loud laugh, causing Sophie to turn red in the face. Stans hit her in the shoulder in a friendly manner. "Oh, and some annoying little bitch gives them a good game?" He continued laughing.

"I don't know, I'm not the only annoying little bitch in this group." Sophie glared.

Next thing Sophie knew, Stans had her by the neck with his shiv pointed at her neck. His smelly breath was hoarse. All guns were aimed on him. "Where I come from, you piss someone off, they stick a shiv in your back." he hissed. "Better watch yourself, little girl."

Sophie socked him hard in the nuts, causing him to let out an embarrassing squawk, before being kicked down into the mushy ground by her. Cuchillo chuckled once, crossing his muscled tattooed arms. "Maybe this little girl is good game after all."

"I'm not lying, I've encountered these creatures before." Sophie stated in a louder voice. She was filled with conviction. Mombasa along with the other creepy dude they rescued from his parachute snorted once. She merely glowered at them. "You don't believe me now, but you will soon enough." Sophie told them.

"I'll believe it, when I see it." Stans spat, getting up off the moist ground. Sophie merely snickered at him. The only time she seemed delighted all day.

"You won't see it, you can't see them," Sophie answered. "You won't see it until you're lying out there bleeding in the jungle."

She pushed herself through Royce and Nikolai to get a drink of water from the stream. Stans had a confused look on his plain-looking face. The girl made the psycho they rescued from the water earlier, Edwin, smile like a child.

"I like her." Edwin said with a delighted smile.

* * *

While the others aside from Sophie debated on why they were sent here, Royce had his attention else where. Sophie decided to approach him and see what he was up to. "What are you doing?" she asked.

There was a leaf filled with water in his hand. A small sliver of metal floated on a smaller leaf. "It's my makeshift compass," Royce answered. "Only, it's not working."

The metal-bearing leaf was spinning madly in a circle, refusing to settle and just point to one direction. Obviously, that meant something was wrong as it wasn't supposed to do that.

"What's wrong with it?" Sophie asked.

"You're supposed to rub the needle from eye to point about a hundred times, which magnetizes the needle. The magnetized part will always face north thanks to the sun's magnetic fields," Royce explained, before looking his makeshift compass that continued to rapidly spin in circles. _"Obviously,_ it's not working."

Sophie wrinkled her nose before a thought crossed her mind. "Well, either you didn't do it right or there's something wrong with the sun."

"Most likely the first."

"You _really_ think that after all we've seen today?" Sophie asked him.

"Kid, waking up in the middle of a jungle isn't enough to convince me that we were abducted by aliens." Royce retorted, dumping the two leaves on the ground and began walking into the forest, lazily carrying his gun across his shoulder. Sophie sent him a disappointed look.

"Hey, we should stick together," Isabelle insisted.

Royce merely shrugged once and said in his gruff voice, "Then you should follow me."

With an eye roll, Isabelle did just that.

Sophie found Royce and Isabelle to be the most reasonable and perhaps even trustworthy of the group, aside from maybe Nikolai and Hanzo. The others could get slaughtered by the alien hunters for all she cared. They were the scum of their planet. "We need to get to higher ground," Royce explained to the group.

"We must be in some kind of psychotropic compound." Edwin said in a daze.

"Well, no shit, Sherlock!" Sophie nearly shouted. "We're in a _fucking_ forest!"

Hanzo drifted out of the bushes, staying on the sidelines and away from this unpredictable group. Cuchillo felt like asking again. "What the hell happened to us, man?"

Royce had heard enough by this point. "It doesn't matter. It happened. Now, we deal with it and move on."

 _If only it were that simple,_ Sophie reminisced. What happened to her that night happened and here she was four years later still trying to deal with the trauma. Only to be thrown into another hurricane of trauma by the very same creature. Sophie was certain she wasn't going to make it out of here alive. It was even possible she would be killed by a member of this group.

Everyone looked towards Royce, eager for solutions and survival, for something, for anything, to make sense again. While what Sophie said sounded like utter bullshit, from the determination as well as the intricate details she provided, being kidnapped by aliens didn't sound as farfetched to them anymore. But, they couldn't settle for Sophie's explanation without proof.

Royce continued to hack a path through the lush vegetation and branches with even, precise strokes. Sophie followed him closely while the rest of the group was spread out behind. She couldn't believe that she was stuck in a jungle labyrinth with every idea and at the same time, no idea, what the fuck was going on. All she knew was that something just outside the field of her vision, something dangerous, was there waiting for her.

Stans was slightly panting, sweating in his orange jumpsuit, obviously not used to this type of heat. It was bearable for Sophie, who lived in Los Angeles all her life. A strange looking planet began to bloom, the others passed it. On the other hand, Isabelle paused for a look, having never seen a structure like it before. It resembled a Venus-fly trap but at the same time didn't. Its pedals were bright and delicate in their appearance. "Isabelle, I wouldn't..." Sophie warned her.

"The girl is right," Edwin added, striding before them. Isabelle and Sophie flinched away from. Edwin smiled, flicking out a surgical scalpel. With a snap, the pedals closed around the blade like a bear trap. "Archaefructus liaoningensis. Very poisonous," he said with a hint of admiration. Edwin withdrew the scalpel, which dripped with yellow puss. The two girls merely stared at him for somehow knowing this incredibly articulate and even _random_ information.

Edwin pushed up his glasses. "I'm a doctor and I read a lot," he clarified. "It's strange though."

"It is, I never knew you could read, let alone be a doctor." Sophie said with shock in her voice. "Aside from being creepy and all."

Edwin ignored her comment, pursuing his lips. "This plant has been extinct since the early Cretaceous period. One hundred and twenty five million years ago. Yet, here it is before our eyes."

He shook it off and kept walking while Isabelle looked back to the supposed extinct plant. Sophie shook her head of short brown hair. "I'm telling you, we were abducted by aliens." she stated once again. "Why won't you believe me?"

Isabelle looked at her with a kind regard. "I never said I didn't believe you, Sophie."

That made her feel somewhat better. But, knowing what lay ahead of them seemed to be just as bad as not knowing.

After what felt like hours of walking, Stans let out a loud yell of aggravation. "Where the _fuck_ is the water!?" he shouted. "We've been hiking in this slop for hours following you and _still_ no water!"

"Does it look like I have a map?" Royce merely said in a calm voice.

"No, but I thought you know where you were going!"

No one could find their way through this maze with all these trees and vegetation. It was too thick and tall to get a clear view. Sophie looked up. "Why didn't I think of this before?" she asked herself, walking to the nearest tree. She immediately started climbing. Thankfully, the trees had vines which she used to pull herself up onto branches. "Hell ya doin', Sofia?" Cuchillo asked from below.

 _It's Sophie, you dumb shit,_ she thought to herself. No doubt the Spanish version of her name. Sophie peered down on the group. "Well, since Royce's shitty compass and intuition is doing us no good, maybe looking above this forestry mess will help us."

She was certain they felt stupid for not having thought that before. Though Sophie hadn't thought of it until now. As she scaled the tree, Sophie hoped to God that there wasn't an alien hunter waiting for her in the branches. While grabbing a branch, a snake slithered down the tree trunk. "Red versus yellow, you're a dead fellow." Sophie said to herself.

Yet, the poisonous snake didn't phase her. There were much worse things waiting for her in this jungle, Sophie knew for sure. What she didn't anticipate was seeing what she saw upon reaching the top of the forty foot something tree. Sophie looked all around the tree tops for any rivers but found none. Though that wasn't the only thing amiss. There was something wrong with the sky when Sophie looked up.

Her mouth hung open slightly in awe and horror.

 _"Ohhhhhhmyyyyyygod..."_ Sophie said all together in one word. "We are _so_ fucked."

* * *

 **Hey guys, so pumped for this story. I hope you enjoyed. Please leave a review if you can. No hate comments please, but I don't mind constructive criticism. Hopefully I'm building up some suspension.**


	4. Grim Discovery

The crew waited for Sophie to return and bring them the news. Walter Stans was already ancy from not having any water and having to exist in this humid heat. It was starting to tick Mombasa and Royce off. "Dude, would you shut it?" Mombasa whined. "All you do is bitch and moan."

"I'll shut it once I have my water," snapped Stans, slapping an insect that landed on his neck. Mombasa merely looked at him with disgust.

Leaves floated to the ground as they heard numerous branches snapping and shaking. Sophie was partially visible from the large branch she stood on. Her long sleeved shirt and jean capris were covered with dirt and tree sap.

"Well?" Royce inquired.

"Please tell me you found water," Stans told her.

Sophie picked some twigs out of her now messy brown hair. She then thought carefully about how to tell the group. Her lips smacked together once, "Um, I found the water but..." she began awkwardly.

Royce raised a dark eyebrow, knowing by the way she was talking that something was wrong. _"But?"_

"Well, I think I found out the reason why your compass doesn't work," Sophie answered. "We're not on the planet Earth anymore."

Isabelle looked over to Edwin, who was fawning over another extinct plant he had found. He couldn't care less about the water. "I don't think all of us were on planet Earth to begin with." Isabelle responded, receiving a few chuckles from the group.

"I'm not joking around; there's like ten other moons, asteroids, and other heavenly objects in the sky," Sophie insisted, sounding sharp. "I am telling you that we are on another fucking planet."

"Twenty other moons? The fuck you talkin' about?" Cuchillo shouted. Either yelling or screaming like a maniac seemed to be the only way to get his voice across. Or _being_ a maniac for that matter.

Sophie was just as fierce though. Now she was starting to get pissed off though. They weren't listening to her as per fucking usual. "I'm telling you that there is no moon in the sky and we also have a different sun!" Sophie then yelled. "And there's a bunch of asteroids and moons and planets and shit in the sky! You wanted bloody proof, Stans! Well, climb up on here and see for yourself!"

Without further adieu, Sophie climbed back up towards the top of the trees again. Isabelle breathed through her nose before strapping her gun to her back. She grabbed the nearest vine and began climbing the mossy tree.

"What are you doing?" Cuchillo asked.

"Climbing, idiot," Isabelle retorted, looking back at him. "I want to see this sky for myself. Are you coming or not?"

Reluctantly, Stans and Mombasa began climbing. Nikolai didn't want to put his mini-gun down to climb the tree while Edwin couldn't be bothered. Royce groaned with irritation as he jumped onto a tree trunk. Not wanting to be left out again, Cuchillo cursed to himself in Spanish before joining the others in reaching the top of the tree line. "Uh, just tell me what you see!" Nikolai shouted at the group. He trusted them enough not to lie at least. Hanzo merely nodded to them. Not having said so much as a word since arriving.

Sophie waited for them at the top, sitting in between a split branch. She looked below to see Isabelle almost at the top. Sophie extended her hand and helped her to the top. It was hard for anyone that wasn't as small as Sophie to get up here. Isabelle was panting slightly, before looking up at the sky. Her eyes and mouth went wide. Suddenly, Isabelle was breathless.

A combination of amazement and horror, just like Sophie's had been moments before. "Shit," Isabelle cursed. "You were right."  
Royce appeared beside in the tree beside them. He said nothing upon seeing the sky. Though Sophie knew he was just as shocked as they were. Mombasa, Stans, and Cuchillo reached them after about five minutes of struggling to climb. Apparently, Stans had fallen ten feet and hit the ground, causing Mombasa and Cuchillo to laugh at him.

 _"God dammit!"_ Stans cursed, smacking the ground in aggravation.

Eventually, they all made it to the top. Stans was panting as if he had ran a marathon. They were all in shock too when they saw it and realized.

They really weren't on Earth anymore.

There was what appeared to be an asteroid belt that probably circled the planet they were on, along with several different moons and asteroids of all colors, shapes, and sizes decorating the sky like stars. There was one particular moon, or possibly even a planet, that was so close in orbit with the planet they were on, that it looked like it was about to collide with the planet they were. The star that orbited the planet also wasn't very bright despite it being a hell of a lot closer than the Sun was to Earth, which suggested it wasn't a yellow dwarf. If it was as hot as the Sun, Sophie was certain that no life would be sustainable on this planet and they'd all burn to death.

All Royce could say was, "We're gonna need a new plan."

Sophie snickered at that, turning to all her new comrades. "Do you fucks believe me now when I tell you that we were abducted by aliens?" She said in her _told-ya-so_ voice.

Royce started to climb down. "Do you want an apology?" he asked in a mocking voice, before disappearing from the tree tops.

Cuchillo looked across the overview of the jungle with disbelief. "Another planet? We're on another _fucking_ planet?" Cuchillo then shouted. _"Are you fucking kidding me?!"_

Under different circumstances, Sophie would've admired the sky and the new planet she was on without a doubt. But that was only under different circumstances. She was stuck on this planet for a nefarious purpose and Sophie had an idea of what it was. Sophie slithered down the tree along with the others, who talked and complained about their new planetary surroundings. After reaching about ten feet towards the ground, Sophie jumped and landed with a thud. Her ankles hurt a little bit from the impact, but it wasn't like jumping off a streetlight. Hanzo was waiting patiently for them from down below.

"Well?" Nikolai asked. "Royce wouldn't say a word to me."

"Yes, it's true, the sky is filled with meteors, asteroids, moons, a different sun, and a different sky!" Cuchillo snapped. "What did I ever do to deserve getting butt-fucked like this!"

 _Maybe it's because you're a murderous, treacherous, asshole who is a drug cartel,_ Sophie thought gravely. She slightly narrowed her eyes at his answer. "A meteor is different from an asteroid, they don't stay in orbit like asteroids do, they fall from the sky." she corrected him.

Cuchillo kicked a bunch of dirt at her in a hostile manner. She stumbled backwards in an attempt to escape the dirt. "I don't give a flying meteor fuck if I'm right or wrong!" He shouted up in Sophie's face, incredibly upset over this grim discovery. "Kidnapped by aliens and put on another planet! Why? Why? _Why? Why me, Dio?!"_

Sophie had been asking herself that question for the last four years. _Why?_ But already knew the answer. People, including creatures of different species, broke laws and enjoyed tormenting and killing other people. Her own species enjoyed it too.

"Stop dancing around like a chicken, we've got a plan." Isabelle told the panicking Hispanic. Sarcastically, he threw his hands up in the air and pretended to look amaze. "Praise be to Mother Mary, Father Joseph, and the Lord Jesus Christ! The bad ass belle has a plan!" he shouted aloud to the jungle. "We're all gonna make it out alive!"

"Don't be so dramatic." Isabelle snorted with an eye roll.

Nikolai gave him a hard look. "Not all of us if you don't keep quiet."

"No, Cuchillo's right, _for once,"_ Sophie agreed, standing on top of a large rock as if it were her very own soap box. The crew looked up at her with discern. "There's an alien predator out there, watching us from somewhere, waiting to strike. And when it does..." She paused for a moment to let the information sink in.

Sophie then shook her head. "...We're all gonna die."

* * *

Sophie was silent during the journey through the hazardous jungle. Isabelle would try to start small talk with Sophie every now and then, feeling sorry for the poor kid. Though it also begged the question as to how a kid who had no skills with fighting and weaponry was included on this supposed 'hunt' set up by the alien predators she mentioned.

Royce stopped, eying the ground for a moment. Isabelle noted his concern while Sophie could care less. She came to an impatient stop though.

"What is it?" Isabelle asked.

"Tracks." Royce answered.

Royce knelt to the damp ground. His fingers traced the faint outlines that anyone would miss. He had a very observant eye. Sophie knew that Royce would probably provide a good hunt to the alien hunters. Maybe Isabelle and Nikolai too. Though she knew that Edwin, Stans, and Cuchillo probably wouldn't. They were already useless to this team.

As for Hanzo, she hadn't seen what his abilities were. He carried around a katana and a gun so he must've had training. And Hanzo certainly wasn't talkactive like most of the crew was. Given his quiet deposition, it was possible that maybe Hanzo had some hidden talent that would please the alien hunters. But Sophie already knew she was the main course.

This beast wanted vengeance against her for humiliating it that night.

"So?" Cuchillo asked.

"So, I've never seen tracks like this before." Royce answered the mouthy Hispanic. He touched the ground, trying to determine what creature could have made them. "Sophie, could you come here a second?"

Sophie was a bit taken back by this, she nonetheless stepped beside him. "Yeah?"

Royce gauged her with a single look. "These tracks...do you recognize them?"

Sophie bent out to take a closer look. Upon further inspection, she thought back to when the creature attacked her that one night. Its feet. No, his feet. Sophie wasn't concentrating on its feet when it was hunting her, but she did remember enough. "Yes." Sophie nodded breathlessly. "Yes, I do."

"How the fuck would she know that?" Stans scoffed. "We've never been on this planet before!"

Sophie turned angrily around to face the criminal. "I haven't seen much of this world, including our home world, but I've seen what some of this universe has had to offer and believe me, you would be pissing your panties with your lil' wee cock if you knew what I knew," she retorted, before turning back to Royce. "You probably don't know the difference between an apple and an orange."

Gritting his teeth, Stans tried to charge at her with his drawn shiv. Mobasa stepped in the way with his gun drawn. Cuchillo was laughing at Sophie's remark towards Stans. He thought she was useless in terms of combat, but maybe that was what the group needed.

"Anyway..." Royce continued on as if nothing had happened. "What made this print?"

"The alien." Sophie lightly smiled. "He's a big fucker, I'll tell you that much."

"I figured from the size of the footprint."

So he did believe Sophie after all. Or at least considered what she had to say. That made Sophie feel a little better about her predicament. She had felt so alone ever sense getting stuck with these dweebs.

Royce studied the teenage girl for a few moments, just trying to figure her out. Either this girl was insane or was telling the truth. If she was insane, she would've been acting like Edwin, which she hadn't. Sophie was acting like any other typical frustrated person would. Yet, she didn't act like a typical high school girl. Or maybe Royce just didn't know how high school girls acted. It had been awhile since he was in high school.

"What are you? Some kind of tracker?" Cuchillo questioned.

"Some kind, yes." Was all Royce said.

"Like lions, tigers and aliens?"

Royce rose from the ground, clutching his gun once more. He looked Cuchillo straight in the eye. "No. Like you."

He resumed leading the way in their perilous journey for water and somehow getting the fuck off of this planet. Alive. Sophie frowned before walking beside Isabelle after Royce.

Hanzo was last as he always was. Leaning over a small current of water, he splashed some water on his face. Obscured by the dripping water, something had moved from above him. Hanzo jerked his head towards the trees, from where the movement was. It was so quick and was gone just the same. Hanzo stared off at the tree before getting up and leaving.

They finally reached a river bank that afternoon. By then, the light had begun to dimmer. The night time creatures began to emerge, as the sounds only grew louder and closer. As well as more malicious.

Sophie's muscles were aching and the sweaty clothes she was wearing didn't help. The trek was taking its toll, not just on her, but on the group as well. They decided to take a break and rest. Knowing that the night was drawing near, as well as being on a distant planet with a vengeful alien hunter, only made Sophie more restless and irritable. The anticipation of the night was making her heart thud across her chest.

Sensing an anxiety attack approaching, Sophie sat herself cross legged on the ground. "Keep calm, it's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay, Sophie," she chanted her mantra to herself, rocking herself back and forth. "Everything is gonna be okay, it'll be okay."

Sophie knew it was far from okay. Royally, she knew they were all fucked. But Sophie continued to lie to herself for the sake of not having an anxiety attack. She would not have a meltdown and look more insane than Edwin did. Sophie felt like she was dying every time she had one. Unable to breathe and that sense of impending doom. This was inevitable given what was happening to her. Some of the group members were watching Sophie attempt to calm her crippling anxiety. She was just a kid after all.

Feeling sorry for the kid, Isabelle filled a large leaf that was bigger than her hand with water from the river. Isabelle carefully walked towards Sophie across the smooth rocky terrain with the water.

"Sophie," she called out to her.

Sophie let out a startled gasp before realizing that it was just Isabelle. She simply smiled kindly to her, something that reminded Sophie of her mother. Her stomach tightened at the thought of them. Sophie was so focused on today's turn of events that she hadn't thought about her family. Her poor family who would now lose a daughter.

"I brought you some water, do you want some?" Isabelle asked, holding out the huge makeshift leaf cup filled with water for her to take. With great care, Sophie managed to take it from Isabelle. She nodded once to her with a sad smile. "Thank you," Sophie muttered.

She greedily guzzled down all the water in a matter of four large gulps before letting out an exhausted sigh of relief. Her lips and throat had been so irritatingly dry the entire day.

"Anxiety?" Isabelle correctly guessed.

Sophie shakily nodded. The water had slightly calmed her nerves. Only slightly. It wasn't going to be enough from stopping her full blown anxiety attack that was bound to happen by dark. "I'm guessing you encountered one of these things, seeing as how you know so much." Isabelle then said. "Either that, or you came up with this story yourself. But so far, everything you've been saying seems to be coming true."

Sophie let out a nervous snicker, setting the leaf to her side. "Then, you know why I'm anxious. I can't stand to be alone yet here I am, all alone. I had to lie to my parents and tell them I was attacked by random thugs. They'd never believe a story like aliens, hell I don't even know what I'm going to tell them when I get...back..." She then stopped herself.

No.

There was no going back alive.

Sophie along with all of these other people were doomed to die. Her poor parents and little brother she loved so much would never know what happened to her. She just suddenly disappeared from the mall never to be seen or heard from again.

"We will get back, I promise you, Soph." Isabelle said in an attempt to cheer her up.

The teenage girl only shook her head, getting up to fetch more water from the river. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

* * *

"Spetsnaz, Alpha Group. Los Zeta, drug cartel enforcer, Sierra Leone death squad, Yakuza, Former FBI'S Most Wanted, a high school girl," Royce described to Isabelle, who had settled herself next to him. He then looked towards Edwin, who was examining a beautiful monarch butterfly that landed on his arm. Edwin had his mouth open agape with wonder.

"Whatever _that_ is."

Royce then nodded to Isabelle.

"And you, a military sniper. I'd say we were chosen."

There was a brief moment of silence. "Chosen for what?" Isabelle then asked.

Before Royce could answer, there was a loud sonic boom that loomed over the clearing like bomb being detonated. Sophie could feel her ears splitting into two it was so loud. Then, something large shot across the sky, too fast to make out. A meteor, a ship, no one could tell. But the earth shook violently when it crashed. The entire crew was knocked down from the blow despite how far away it was

Sophie groaned as she stumbled to her feet.

There was a tail of smoke in the sky that lead to the jungle, where a path of destruction was visible in its wake. The uproar of the crash faded away, but Sophie knew that whatever crashed had remained.

"What the fuck was that?" Cuchillo demanded.

"A meteor?" Mombasa suggested.

"An aircraft?" Stans also added.

Nikolai shook his head. "Most likely a military aircraft."

Through the dirt and exhaustion, something glimmered in their eyes. Hope. Sophie shook her head. "No, it can't be military, we're not on Earth remember?" she reminded them. "Probably an alien space ship."

No one listened to Sophie. All they could cling onto was this new hope. Sophie noticed Edwin still lingering in the campsite while the others went into the jungle, following the flaming trail.

"Edwin, come on!" Sophie goaded him. It was like babysitting her younger brother Jacob again. When Edwin stood up, she noticed that the monarch butterfly he found earlier had been squashed into the ground.

* * *

Sophie had continually climbed the trees in an attempt to see what had crash landed onto the planet. Mostly trees, but the fiery smoke became too much for her and Sophie was forced to stay on ground. While trudging through the jungle, it seemed to be alot more dense than before. That made it more difficult to walk through the smaller spaces, all except for Sophie. They nonetheless remained guarded for anything that would come at them.

Royce came to a stop after slashing a large leafy branch out of the way. He stepped into a small opening. "Well, shit." Royce sighed.

Isabelle looked up at him, before turning to the direction of his gaze. She stepped back slightly startled by what she was seeing. But, this was not an uncommon sight for someone like her. For any of them. Sophie let out a slight gasp upon seeing it.

A rotting corpse.

While Sophie and the others took in the eerie sight, Royce and Nikolai approached to examine the corpse. It must have been only a couple of days old. His clothing was dirty and torn to shreds, as was typical. What shocked Sophie the most was the gaping wound in his chest. The man's eyes wide open, staring upward into the nothingness.

"He's a Navy SEAL." Royce stated. "Or at least, _was."_

"What the hell happened to him?" Mombasa asked.

"It's strange, the wound in his chest appears to have imploded, yet it is fused and cauterized. This wound was not created by a bullet nor a blade." Nikolai explained as he knelt beside the corpse. He rummaged through the dead man's pockets. He withdrew some maps and a wallet. Inside the wallet were some papers.

Upon reading it, Nikolai's face went blank. "He's supposed to be deployed in Afghanistan."

"He was abducted like we were," Sophie reasoned. "And killed by the monster."

As there was no time to bury him, Nikolai took off his jacket to cover the corpse. From one soldier to another. Sophie admired him for doing that. They continued their march towards the unknown.

Hanzo stopped in his tracks. Slowly he turned back and froze, staring into the jungle. He sensed that something was hiding from within its depths.

Something he couldn't see beyond his vision. Watching. Waiting...Hanzo knew this girl was telling the truth right from the start. She wasn't delusional. He saw a shimmer in the background. Like a heat wave forming above the pavement during a sunny day.

A branch swayed with a sharp jerk. Only there was no wind.

"Hanzo?" Sophie asked.

The Japanese man was jerked back to reality. His darkest brown eyes on now the worried looking Sophie. "Are you okay?" she then asked.

He stepped past her. Sophie looked back in the direction that Hanzo had been staring out. She didn't linger long, afraid of what she would see. Sophie knew that Hanzo could sense it too.

The creature was out there watching them.


	5. Lesser Creatures

"How many hours has it been?" Stans complained. "It's been dimly lit forever. Shouldn't it be nighttime already?"

"We're on a different planet with a different orbit, of course it's going to be different." Isabelle snapped back at the criminal. This only unnerved Sophie even further. That meant that the nights could possibly be longer. It also gave the alien creature a chance tonight to torment her.

The crew remained on edge, alert, aware of every sound, every step, and every second of the way. Sophie felt a little uneasy about not owning a weapon, not even a knife. Hell, even the crazy doctor Edwin had a scalpel. The jungle enveloped them from all directions, it almost seemed prehistoric to her. During their long and hazardous trek, Royce signaled everyone to stop and remain quiet. Sophie peeked over Isabelle to see another parachute draped over what looked like a large metal box that was bigger than them.

Hanzo unbuttoned his nice suit to pull out his Beretta. He nodded to Royce once. Flanked by Cuchillo, Mombasa, and Isabelle, they slowly took small steps towards the parachute, which covered the metal box. Delicately, Hanzo placed his fingers on the parachute. All fingers were on the triggers. Sophie hid behind a tree trunk while Stans and Edwin decided to watched.

Hanzo abruptly pulled away the drapes, to the relief of Sophie and the crew, there was nothing in it. They all then carefully approached it. "We're not alone," Mombasa announced.

Sophie already knew that. There was what looked like ripped bits of flesh inside the cage. The smell was foul and bugs were eating away at the meat. "It looks like...some sort of cage," Sophie then pointed out. "Can't have contained any humans, it's far too large for that."

"Uh, guys..." Stans said, pointing upwards. All heads looked up and Sophie was mortified. There were more of these 'cages' scattered throughout the trees. So, there wasn't just one monster. There were multiple. Sophie wondered if the cages had originally contained the alien hunters, or if even possible, something far worse.

Cuchillo clutched a rosary, his lips moving in a silent prayer. Nikolai looked irritated that a drug cartel was turning to prayer now after all his years of violence and drugs.

"You're wasting your breath." Nikolai snorted.

"We all have to believe in something. Even the worst of us," Cuchillo reasoned. "Perhaps the worst most of all."

Sophie didn't believe in any God.

How could a God who was supposedly kind and compassionate allow there to be murder, rape, pain, hunger, and poverty across the world? How fair was it for people to repeatedly do all of those things then suddenly pray to God and go back to doing them again. It was a vicious cycle that only excused crime. Sophie could never believe in a God who forgave people who raped and murdered. Those crimes were unforgivable.

Her thoughts stopped upon there being motion in the bushes. They all reacted, coming to an immediate stop. Something took flight, swooping over their heads and letting out a loud screech. It vanished into the lush trees. Stans had already unraveled by then. He immediately drew his blade. "Man, what the fuck?" he exclaimed.

Stans looked around as the panic building, before looking at his shitty little knife. "I want a gun! Someone give me a fucking gun! This is bullshit!"

No one volunteered.

Abruptly, Stans lunged with his shiv at Mombasa's throat, drawing blood. Hanzo raised his gun towards Stans. Mombasa wasn't at all phased by this, in fact he was smiling. "I'm ready to die. Are you?"

 _Click!_ That was the sound Mombasa's 45. Hammer cocked, which was pointed at Stans's neck.

An eerie silence descended like a fast falling curtain. Even the buzzing and clicking of insects have ceased. Sophie's eyes wandered up in the trees, wondering if the creature was already here. She couldn't spot any heat hazes signifying that the creature was anywhere near. She should've been focused on the standoff, but there were worse things.

All weapons snapped up towards Stans and Mombasa, forcing them to disengage. They traded glares before stepping away from each other. Another time perhaps. Just when things had started to cool down, they heard a low, growling noise coming from deep within the forest. Sophie felt her blood pumping. Was it the creature? Was it coming for her now? All these panicked thoughts raced through her mind.

Sophie could hear branches and the tree trunks themselves shake abruptly. Whatever it is, it's fast. Powerful. And lethal. Her breathing became erratic as she said her little mantra to herself in an attempt to calm herself. The others ignored her, there were bigger things to deal with.

Royce clicked the safety off his AA-12 shotgun, Isabelle racked the bolt of her rifle, Cuchillo pulled the slides of his submachine guns, Mombasa held his machine gun close, Nikolai's chaingun began to whir, and Stans looked at his dinky little knife. Sophie stayed in the back with Edwin and Stans.

They waited with heavy anticipation for whatever was coming closer. Sophie quickly looked behind her to see if anything was creeping up on them. There was nothing there, at least, nothing that she could see. What would it have mattered anyway?

Suddenly, there was a blur of motion as something launched itself out of the bushes. It was large, lean, leathery, and on all fours. It resembled a cross between a tiger and a boar. Despite how alien these creatures were, Sophie was somewhat relieved that they were Kvar'thwei.

They would've really been fucked had it been him.

That was when they all began opening figure. Royce shot short, accurate bursts while Mombasa unleashed a barrage of bullets with the AK. Hanzo stood in a calm shooting stance, taking his time with firing at a steady rate, as if he were at a pistol range. Cuchillo was blazing his Uzis.

And all the noise their combined guns made were muted by the roar of Nikolai's chaingun. Its barrel spun rapidly, shooting a stream of high velocity rounds.

They completely obliterated the creature.

It squealed as bullets tore it apart. Then, erupted into a puddle of black blood. The monstrosity was dead. More were coming though, Sophie could hear it. They were vicious, closing in on them in a triangular shape.

As more of these creatures ran towards the standing line of fire, Stans and Edwin made a break for it into the jungle. They would soon run out of bullets and be overwhelmed by these monsters. No one could outrun those things, they were too fast. Sophie began to panic, looking all around her as if the forest had some sort of weapon to use. Upon looking higher into the tall trees, that was when it dawned upon her. Sophie jumped onto the tree, wrapping her legs around its thin trunk, and began climbing it like it were rope.

Sophie nearly scurried up the tree thanks to the adrenaline and desperation pumping through her veins. As she predicted, they were soon overwhelmed by the beasts. Royce was having trouble with his shotgun, so he stepped forward and sliced the creature in half with his machete. Almost like slicing through butter from the way the creature easily dispersed.

Stans got tackled by the hell-hound, at first he was screaming like a little girl, then the angered kicked in and he began rapidly stabbing the creature with his little knife. Cursing all the while. Mombasa approached him, kicking the monster off of him and firing a round at it. "Looking good, boss," Mombasa simply said to him.

Stans was panting and covered with sweat.

Isabelle saved Edwin from the boar-like creature charging at him. The crazed doctor spotted Sophie clinging to the tree and quickly caught on, running up a tree of his own.

Before Sophie could continuing any further, she noticed one of those things sniffing and circling the tree she was on. The damn thing could smell her. It promptly followed her scent, raising its head and both of them made eye contact. The creature had bright yellow eyes.

It let out a loud snarl and began ramming its spiked head into the tree. Given that the tree trunk was about six inches in circumference and rather small, Sophie knew only a couple of blows would knock it over. Sophie saw another tree only a couple feet away. As the tree started to tip over, Sophie jumped to the other one. The tree cracked into two and the creature let out a frustrated growl at being denied its prey. It simply began charging at the tree again, determined to do this over and over and over again until it finally got Sophie. Feeling like Tarzan, Sophie hopped from tree to tree in order to get to the large oak one. Reaching her destination, the creature let out a angered roar. It knew it couldn't knock down the tree.

Suddenly, a whistle.

High pitched, piercing, and inhumane, echoed throughout the forest. The creature halted to a stop, clawing into the dirt before quivering. Immediately, it turned and vanished back into the jungle, just as swiftly as it had appeared. Others followed after it.

Sophie carefully slid down the tree trunk before jumping at around ten feet. She landed with a grunt in a bunch of leaves. Nikolai was only a few yards away from her, covered in sweat and panting. Searching for more targets. To their relief, there were none.

After realizing that the danger was gone, at least for now, Royce and Hanzo approached them. Followed by an injured Stan and Mombasa, along with Edwin and Isabelle. They all gathered around the corpse of one creature. Everyone was too tired to speak.

Mombasa lightly tapped it with his boot. "What the hell are these things?" he asked.

"They look like they came out of Chernobyl." Stans added.

Sophie continued to breathe softly. "They just...left."

Royce shook his head, and with a grim look replied, "No. That whistle. They were called."

All of their minds were reeling and refusing to comprehend. Stans eyes went wide. "What the hell do you mean?...are you saying...these things are someone's..." he rambled.

"Pets. Bloodhounds, maybe." Royce finished for him.

"I told you we're not alone," Sophie stated in a stern voice.

"Kinda sorta figured."

Edwin had his hands on his hips when he looked all around him. "Um, where's Cuchillo?"

Heads turned. Indeed, they were one man short. Now, it was deathly silent. "Do we go looking for him?" Mombasa asked.

"We can't just leave him," Isabelle insisted.

Sophie furrowed her brow, her arms crossed. "You really want to risk your life for a drug cartel? I think you should know by now, that anyone of us could die here at any point. Gotta accept that."

Isabelle stared with shock at how blunt and cold this girl was. She expected her to be screeching like a loud poodle and be annoying, like most kids her age were. But, this girl spoke like a robot. Like a seasoned soldier. Sophie hadn't fought in any way, but from the way she acted, Isabelle knew that she had seen something.

One by one, the others pulled away, following in silent agreement that they had to continue on without Cuchillo. A decision they all have to live with. Sophie didn't really care for the most part. Isabelle didn't move for a moment. Something welling behind her eyes. Her entire being is wrecked with silent tension.

"Izzy?" Sophie called out to her. "Let's keep moving."

Her voice was a monotone.

Isabelle let out a frustrated sigh, before marching towards the group. They did a quick search around the area for Cuchillo upon the insistence of Isabelle. Nothing turned up. Isabelle was certain they had missed them. Sophie reasoned that if Cuchillo had fallen, the beasts would've no doubt killed him. Even then,

Isabelle stated that they would've found a body. Royce was unable to follow Cuchillo's footprints. They seemed to come to a complete stop. There were no monster tracks around either.

It puzzled and disturbed the entire group. Cuchillo had just vanished. But, there was nothing they could do about it. Sophie was too anxious to go looking for some drug cartel in the jungle. She didn't want to search around because Sophie knew she would only find something bad.

They couldn't find Cuchillo because his body had been hung by his ankles from a tree just above them.


	6. A Dangerous Path

The group continued on, pondering their probable fates. Royce came to a short stop. "Now what?" Mombasa asked their de facto leader.

In response, Royce pointed to a jungle matted hillock in the distance. In its center, breaking the tree line, something vertical and tall was there. Something unnatural.

 _"There,"_ Royce replied. "That's where we're going."

He eyed the ground before stomping into the large footprint, not wanting Sophie to see and quickly catch on to where they were going.

Royce was taking them toward the enemy camp.

The shadows only grew deeper the further they entered. Burnt orange was painted across the sky, from the brown dwarf star the planet orbited. Sophie was just as cautious as the crew, ready to rumble, ready for anything. Or so they thought.

She began to hear a soft and steady creaking noise growing stronger as they approached. A tightening feeling formed in Sophie's stomach. "Where the hell are you taking us?" she asked Royce, who didn't answer. It seemed that she answered her own question.

Hell.

A half dozen creatures were skinned, rotting, and hung by their feet from a long horizontal pole. The pole had been the source of the creaking noise as the corpses swung in the breeze. They all looked alien, being of all shapes and sizes. Dangerous too.

On the ground next to the carcasses, flocks of monstrous and otherworldly birds feasted on flesh that had fallen off. Guts, brains, eyes, organs. The carrion eaters fought over the food despite how much of it there was anyway. Hides were strung over rough wooden frames, curing in the sun. Some of them looked like human skin. In the middle was a smoldering fight, sending up thin wisps of smoke.

A collection of polished skulls-many with spinal cords still intact-were displayed on tree stumps and stakes. The group was filled with hard, dangerous folk who'd seen and done more than their share of evil. Still, they looked around, in a state of horror and revulsion. It was worse than a slaughterhouse and a Satanic ritual combined.

This was barbaric but Sophie was only a little surprised. She already knew what to expect when facing death.

All except one.

From the look on Edwin's face, anyone would've thought he had seen the messiah himself.

"What the fuck is this place?" Isabelle asked in a whisper.

Nikolai answered. "Hell."

Edwin ran his fingers along a row of skinning knives, crusted with multi-colored blood. Feeling their sharp edges. He took a couple and stuffed them in his red jacket before leaving with the group. Sophie cut in front of the others to march in front of Royce. "We need to leave," she insisted.

"Not yet." Royce argued.

The sudden intense fear stabbed at Sophie like an ice wound to the stomach. "You lead us straight into their camp," Sophie snarled at him. "How fucking stupid could you be?"

She was only inches away from his face. Royce didn't betray the emotionless expression on his face. He was a mercenary, how could she have trusted this man? Upon hearing this, the others began mumbling among themselves. "Their camp?" Stans repeated. "Who's camp?"

Sophie looked past Royce over to the former Death Row inmate. "Well, these skulls and carcasses didn't just magically put themselves here. This is the killer's camp, our captor, our _hunter,"_ Sophie explained before looking back up at Royce, giving him a scathing look. "And you lead us right into them."

Royce still said nothing.

She merely shook her head. "I'm leaving, if you want to go exploring in Camp Death, that's on you."

"By yourself? In the middle of a jungle? Might as well face these assholes out in the open than dying one by one in an enclosed space like the jungle."

"We'd be safer out there than in the fucking killer's campsite!" Sophie yelled, before stomping past him. "Might as well shoot a firework stating _'here I am! come and kill me now'!"_

Isabelle gave Royce a disappointed look.

"You won't be alone, Soph." she assured the girl, following after Sophie. It didn't take long for Stans to follow after.

Only Hanzo, Nikolai, and Edwin remained. Royce was surprised by this. "You're staying?" he asked.

Nikolai stood tall. "If that thing is in this camp, we can kill it."

Stan took one good look at all the rotting corpses and skulls surrounding them. He shook his head before leaving. "You're delusional if you really think that." Stans scoffed.

Edwin took in the horror and strangeness, the grandeur of it all, the slightest hint of a smile creasing his features. Though the Russian knew that they would be stronger if all of them were together. They lost a good sniper. And yes, it was a dumb idea walking into their hunter's camp. But, it was better than wandering the jungle to be hunted down.

Wasn't it?

"Move, quickly," Sophie told them, walking at a fast pace through the maze of death. The stench was making Sophie and Isabelle retch. Stans had his shiv drawn just in case. Though they were screwed otherwise. "I cannot fucking believe Royce led us here!" Stans said in a ragged tone.

"Royce thinks we stand a chance," Sophie answered. "But, we'd last longer out in the jungle."

At least, that's what she thought.

She stepped over a long piece of half-eaten rotten flesh. Sophie had almost escaped the alien slaughterhouse when something silvery appeared in her peripheral. Something that stuck out from the black and red colors that surrounded them. The colors of violence and gore.

Sophie abruptly stopped, causing Stans to bump into her. "Why have we stopped?"

It was an alien hunter's mask. Not just any mask, it was silver and had five claw marks running down the right side, over the eye too. Sophie immediately thought back to that night.

 _The alien hunter knelt down on one knee and placed a gentle hand on her bleeding shoulder. She took in every part of the creature. It was covered with horrific scars just like Sophie did now. It also wore a mask like its inferior. Silver. Five scratches across the ride side. A strange symbol carved on the forehead. Something the other one didn't have._

Sophie sped walk towards the mask, across all of the hanging, smelly corpses, before stopping in front of it. The mask had been laid down on the ground alongside the alien hunters wrist devices, spear, and other weaponry. She stared at the mask with ambivalence. Sophie caught her own reflection in it.

"Sophie, what the hell?" Stans nearly exclaimed, but kept his voice down.

Isabelle noticed her gaze, glancing at the mask before looking back to the high schooler. "What is it?"

Sophie got down on one knee before the mask, continuing to study it. There was green luminescent blood spilled all over it. Wondering what had happened to that alien hunter. Did the alien youngblood that had attacked her kill its elder? It wouldn't surprise her if it aimed that low but that wasn't what concerned her.

"Soph?" Isabelle repeated.

Sophie was too lost in thought and stunned by what she was seeing before her to answer the Israeli. Isabelle subsequently remained silent for a few moments. The girl seemed to recognize the mask. She also appeared to have an intricate knowledge of their captors. But said nothing later on after her input for after was being disregarded. Though for the most part, Sophie didn't say anything because she didn't care anymore.

Sophie had given up, Isabelle got that much from her.

Her face hardened. Isabelle grabbed Sophie around her arm.

"You need to do some explaining and quick." she warned her, getting aggressive in her voice. Isabelle was starting to get irritated now.

Sophie wiped away the tears staining her dirty face. "It won't make any difference. We're screwed."

Giving the same old answer she told herself a million times. Before Isabelle could argue further with her, Stans hollered over to them. "Guys, quick!"

Isabelle jerked her head towards the direction it came from. "Come on, let's go," she told Sophie, who looked back down at the mask respectively one last time. Sophie grabbed the spear that had belonged to the elder alien predator before running with Sophie. That action shocked Isabelle for a moment, as Sophie seemed to only doom herself.

Yet she grabbed a weapon. Maybe Sophie hadn't entirely given up. Sophie herself didn't know of this.

Stans was in the middle of the camp pointing at something.

There was a twenty foot high metallic totem pole, all barbs and blades, covered in arcane hieroglyphics, that was stuck in the earth like an exclamation point. Royce and the other three quickly joined them. There was something attached to the other side. Coming around for a look, Isabelle stopped cold in her tracks.

Reluctantly, Sophie and the others joined with her to see what she was looking at. Sophie wasn't one to get shocked to easily, but the thing she saw before her, shocked her.

Stretched out on a totem was an alien predator.

* * *

Sophie was just as speechless as the others were. It hung their helplessly, its head slumped with a few drops of water falling from it. It made no sound past the threshold of pain a man could endure. The creature looked to be crucified given how stretched back they were. Crucification basically caused the victim to slowly suffocate to death.

Florescent green blood caked its forehead, covering many of its wounds. The helmet was off, armor stripped, shoulder mount smashed and dangling loosely off the shoulder. Just like its leathery appendages that replaced hair. There were gold rings decorated them, almost making the hair resemble dreadlocks.

It looked to be dead. Or at least close to it.

At the base of the monument was a pile of discarded armor, shattered weapons and cleaved skulls. It was shock and awe for everyone.

"What. The. Fuck?" Stans mouthed.

Mombasa muttered something in his native tongue. Hanzo shook his head incredulously, unable to process.

"Monsters are real." Edwin breathed.

Sophie took a step back, bumping into Royce. Their eyes meet. In them, he could see something. Fear? Confusion? No. Recognition.

"Sophie," Royce said sharply. "Is this the alien you were ranting and raving about?"

Her eyes began to water with horror-struck tears. Sophie merely nodded. Maybe this was the same alien predator that saved her life. It looked to be weakened and tied up pretty good. Sophie was sure it wouldn't break free. Gulping once, she took a step forward.

"Hey," she called out to it.

The thing's bloodshot eyes snapped open. Mandibles flaring as it roared. Sophie and everyone else jumped back. It struggled with its constraints, trying to break free. "Let's get the fuck out of here!" Stans cried out. Nobody needed to be told twice. Except for maybe Sophie, who regained her composure and took a step forward. Sophie held the retracted alien spear in front of its face, causing it to stop roaring. It looked at her with regard. Most likely surprised that this young human girl wasn't afraid of it. There was something in this human's eyes that it hadn't seen in a long time.

Recognition.

"Do you...understand me?" Sophie asked slowly, in a clear voice.

It didn't say anything to her, still studying this human girl. Its mandibles then clicked together. "I...speak...your...tongue...child-bearer." the alien predator gargled back to her, rather harshly. All eyes flew open with shock and surprise. This creature could speak their language?

"What the fuck?" Stans squeaked. "It _talks!?"_

But Sophie already knew that. She stood her ground determined and unfazed. The creature was curious about her already. Though of course that was easy when this alien hunter was restrained.

"This spear," Sophie then said. "The owner of it saved my life from a Youngblood named Kivarthwey four years ago. Are you him?"

The creature said nothing for a moment. "No..." it then gruffly answered. "Kvar'thwei...killed...him..."

Somehow, Sophie already knew the alien hunter that had saved her was dead. But after seeing this creature, a renewed sense of hope had filled her up. Maybe it could protect her again like it did in the past. Now that the alien creature Kvar'thwei had killed him, nothing could stop him from hunting her down. A mixture of sorrow and disappointment ate away at her heart, creating a hole.

The mask and weaponry was without its owner. Blood splattered all over it. How could Sophie have not known? They were a violent species whom loved to hunt her kind. Sophie knew that all too well. Yet, she was shedding tears for one of their own.

It had saved her life though...

Before she knew it, a tear managed to escape her eye. Followed by another one. She barely knew the creature yet these tears were falling. A sorrow began eating away at her.

The alien could see this by the sad, sad look on her face, and seemed most amused. It seemed to chuckle once, before coughing suddenly, painfully. It was forced to stop as its chest captivity was stretched out.

"Shed...no...tears...for...the...dead..." The crucified hunter roughly told her. Suddenly, its jerked its head to the right and left. Its amber eyes were acute and aware of something. "They...are...here..." He announced.

Sophie slowly stepped away from the crucified alien. Anxiety spread quickly throughout her body, making her feel like a bird locked in a cage. "They're here?" she breathed, before spinning around. "They're here, we need to leave!"

"I agree!" Stans added.

Guns were aimed in every direction. Sophie got in the middle of the small circle. The militants kept their eyes peeled for any sudden movement. "They're invisible," Sophie stated.

"What?" Nikolai repeated.

"I said, they're invisible!" Sophie hissed.

Tense, sweat beading, hearts pounding, terror building. They all waited for something to pop out in front of them. They saw...

...Nothing.

Just like Sophie had stated. This felt all too familiar to her. Just like when she had been running down the street and came to a stop. There was those few long and drawn out, painful moments of silence. Of nothing. Until it absolutely terrified her by destroying the streetlights.

"Don't relax, people!" she reminded them. Mombasa certainly didn't. Eyes wide with confusion.

With no warning—a cloaked spear—visible only thanks to the red outline of Mombasa's blood—burst from his chest, having been driven right through him from behind. His blood painted Stans' face as Sophie let out a loud screech. That was when all hell broke loose.

The other reacted, unleashing panicked fire. The fury of their weapons surges in the direction of the attack, riddling the camp and the jungle. The crucified predator added its roar to the mayhem. There was nothing to shoot at. _"STOP FIRING!"_ Sophie screamed on the top of her lungs.

The firing immediately stopped. They backed into each other, becoming more of a herd than an organized unit. Sophie picked up the AK that Mombasa had dropped upon his death. "Where is it? Where the fuck is it?!" Stans screeched, holding out his shiv.

Royce's eyes panned, looking for movement, motion, anything. Isabelle, rifle up, searching. Nikolai swept the chaingun in a wide arc, back and forth.

Nothing.

"How do we find them if they're invisible?!" Isabelle demanded, her eyes darting everywhere.

 _They aren't completely invisible,_ Sophie remembered. As focused as she could be, Sophie carefully scanned all openings. That was when Sophie saw it. The oddly shaped shimmer in the light. She quickly looked away as to not let the alien predator know that she knew of its location.

Royce heard a clicking noise and knew what it was. The pin of a grenade. He turned to see that Sophie had her hand around one of the grenades clipped to Mombasa's harness. Sophie heaved the explosive into space. Rapid throws three more, spacing them around the camp ground at regular intervals. Only a split second to duck before they went off. Royce grabbed Isabelle and Nikolai, throwing them to the ground. Sophie was already ducking when Hanzo, Stans, and

Edwin caught on. Just barely in time.

There was a loud _KABOOM!_ Followed quickly by two more. A cloud of dirt and shrapnel tore through the air in a concussive wave-washing over a fast moving form, making it visible for a brief moment.

It appeared to be injured from the grenades, having been forced to get away as far as they possible could in those short few seconds. Nikolai sees it, unloading on the thing with his chaingun, the roar of the weapon matched by his battle cry.

And then the creature recovered, opening up fire with a gun of its own.

An eruption of lasers and energy arcs blasted towards them. The thing was a monster. Making Nikolai's chaingun look like a child's toy. Both human and inhuman rounds collided mid-air, clattering on the ground. Soon, the others joined in by randomly firing within the camp, although careful not to shoot each other.

Sophie retreated with Stans and Edwin, seeking cover and distance. She had to drop the spear in exchange for Mombasa's AK, even though she had no idea how to really fire a gun. After being overwhelmed by the gunfire and confusion, Nikolai and Isabelle quickly hauled ass after the others.

One of the alien predators kept firing. The sound of a cannon laser, which fired only precisely. Isabelle aimed at the muzzle flashes, putting a round above them. Only it ricochets off the unseen metal. Bullet arcs fired towards. Only by the hair of her head and a dead tree did she survive.

Sophie dived, as branches and bark were pulverized from above her. Still in motion, Royce spotted Sophie in her predicament and fired his shotgun on full auto.

The monster reeled from the barrage. A couple drops of green blood landed on the ground.

Hands grabbed Sophie. Edwin's. He pulled her up, hauling her towards the tree line. With the two of them sprinting, as if hell itself was on his heels-which, in many ways, it was-they didn't dare look back as the jungle behind them was literally shredded from behind them. Bushes disintegrating, wood into splinters, and leaves becoming burnt.

Everyone was running blind, stumbling, falling, picking themselves up, and living from one breath to the next. The ground before Sophie disappeared, and she was sliding down a wet ravine. The rocks were so slippery that the small waterfall made it slippery. It was like riding a water slide in Wild Waves. Hanging onto the AK for dear life, Sophie could only scream her way down the sharp, bumpy, rocky way down.

With Sophie, the world was spinning. She slid off a rock, going airborne and landing in a muddy, wading pool of water. It was only about two-feet tall waters, the rough impact had Sophie grunt in pain. Seeing someone else descending down the slide-coming towards her like a bullet-Sophie jumped to the side. Royce was plunged into the small kitty pool. He came up in time to see Isabelle and Edwin fly off the large rock into the pool from behind him. Stans came flying in, screaming. Followed by Nikolai, who moved aside when Hanzo lastly arrived via splash.

They quickly recovered from their water slide and continued running into the forest, never looking back.


	7. A Different View

The crew were glowing thermal shapes in the murky brown water. The small airborne craft circled over the prey, then accelerated away. It was the same screeching sound from earlier. The group didn't know that death was circling right above them.

But there was only one _ooman_ that mattered the most to Kvar'thwei.

The _ooman_ female suckling.

Sophie Pace to be exact. The disgusting _pyode amedha_ name she had been given.

That was the one he had been watching the most throughout the day. The predator descended toward the watery ridge, overlooking where they had escaped too. That _ooman_ was still so tiny and so delicate just like last time. In the four years since being forced to spare her life, Kvar'thwei had grown larger, taller, and stronger since. He had also killed his own master for his strict code of honor, along with his father, and four other clansmen, effectively rendering himself a ic'jit, or a Bad Blood. His own "clan" was made up of various Bad Bloods, in fact, two of them were with them to join the hunt.

Bakuub, who had two curved tusks jutting from his dai-shi. He was also the bulkiest of the hunting trio. An incredible tracker and use of domesticated alien creatures, which easily flushed his prey out of hiding. That was why Kvar'thwei decided to bring him along. Not that Bakuub wasn't eager to join in on his plan of abducting dangerous humans and other game to hunt on the planet for sport. So was Dachande, though he was more of the observant and quiet type compared to his mei'hswei. He had the same thirst for blood that his species shared, but could control it better than Bakuub.

Dachande's role was to watch over the prey, to study them, and their tactics with the hult'ah, a bird-like spying device. It was capable of quickly moving across the hunting grounds and monitoring the prey whilst remotely controlled by Dachande. His dai-shi was black and more bulkier than the other two because of the mechanics it held. He was the only one without a sivk'va-tai, which Kvar'thwei considered to be foolish.

Dachande descended towards the ridge, overlooking the river as well. He let out a couple series of clicking noises. The hult'ah kv'var-de was observing their prey through its mask no doubt. Dachande then turned to his clan brother.

 _"Kv'var?"_ he asked in their mother tongue.

Kvarthwei's mandibles clicked together. _"Ta than-guan."_

Dachande lowered his head to Kvar'thwei, agreeing with the idea. Light distorted around him as the air undulated and shifted. His form shimmered out of view. Bakuub growled towards his brother, cloaking and following after. Dachande didn't understand why Kvar'thwei threw in a _ooman lou-dte kale_ suckling. There was another _lou-dte kale_ in their little clan, but she knew how to fight hence why she was chosen. Yet,

Kvar'thwei picked a weak, pathetic ooman lou-dte kale suckling?

Kvar'thwei reasoned that the lou-dte kale sucklings were amusing at their age. They scared easily and were entertaining to torment. But, Dachande didn't understand that logic. If they didn't provide a good hunt then they were useless. This ooman was useless. She didn't know how to fight or use their primordial weapons that the other oomans had. Dachande sensed that Kvar'thwei was lying but said nothing of it. He could see a burning rage in his blood red eyes through his dai-shi.

All for this silly ooman lou-dte kale suckling.

* * *

Sophie dragged herself out of the brown water, collapsing in a shallow pool set by a white sand beach. Hanzo was next, followed by Edwin, Stans, Royce, and Isabelle. They were all heaving, but still alive. All drenched and clean from the muddy water.

Royce yanked Sophie to her feet, hands on her throat. There was nothing but cold fury in his dark eyes. "What the hell are these things?" Royce demanded in his low, grouchy voice.

"What did you think you were gonna find, leader?" Sophie hissed back into his face, her hands on his that were at her throat. "A bunch of E.T.'s gathered around a campfire roasting _fucking_ marshmallows?"

Her sarcastic answer had Royce shoving her backwards into some bushes, Sophie landed in some squashy mud. She didn't care about that. Her burning eyes only on Royce.

"No, but you aren't giving me much to work with." he answered.

Sophie got up, scrapping the mud off her light pink jacket. "That's your problem, you think it's all about you," she sighed, pulling her wet hair to the side, which stuck to her face. "You don't see the big picture."

"Which is?"

"We're all dead." Sophie blatantly answered him. "Now, you've seen first hand what these things can do. You're fucking dead. We all are. We're alive because they allow it. They love a good game and a good hunt. That's all you're here for! So you might as well, take that gun, put it to your head and pull the trigger."

Royce trudged through the mud towards her. There was no sympathy in his eyes. He grabbed her by the shirt and jerked her close to him, face-to-face. "You may have given up but we sure as hell haven't."

"You should though," Sophie retorted. "All you need to know is that those things are unbeatable and that you're all going to die."

"Actually, that's not quite true," Isabelle then interjected. The two of them turned to the Israeli fighter. Most of the group had been silently watching Sophie and Royce argue, trying to figure things out for themselves too. Stans gave her an incredulous look. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I didn't believe the story when I heard about it, but now I do," Isabelle explained. All of them waited for her to continue. She inhaled a deep breath. "In 1987, Guatemala, a rescue team went into the jungle. Special ops. High end. Six men plus a CIA liaison. One made it out. In his debrief he said they came in contact with... something not of this world. He gave a detailed description...and it perfectly describes that thing on the totem."

"What else?" Royce demanded, still having a hold on Sophie.

"It could see in infra red. Heat signatures. The man used mud to block his vision. That's how he was able to beat it. It wore some kind of camouflage that adjusted to ambient light. Made it nearly invisible in our spectrum."

Sophie slowly nodded. She remembered the Youngblood suddenly appearing before her out of nowhere. It had been invisible, just like its master that had saved her. "There was a survivor?" she asked. "What happened to him? What happened to the alien?"

"No one believed him. And then he just... _disappeared."_ Isabelle stammered. "The monster hunted and killed his team. One by one. He managed to single handedly kill the monster in combat."

Sophie was in utter disbelief. Someone actually managed to kill one of those monsters? Royce released her. "You see? We can kill these things," he told her. "Now, are you going to tell us how the fuck you know about these things?"

She let out a long sigh. Sophie sat down on a rock to explain it to them. She told them about how she had gotten into a fight with Blaine Hopkins at school.

Royce rolled his eyes, nearly yelling: _"Get to the point!"_

But, she snapped back at him, telling him that a story 'peels like an onion'. The same thing her grandmother would tell her when Sophie begged her to skip to the good parts when telling a story.

Getting to the encounter herself, it almost sounded something out of a horror film. Sophie told them how the creature had enjoyed tormenting her with suspense. Before flatly explaining how it gruesomely attacked her with its wrist blades, slashing at all parts of her body. Sophie removed her jacket and lifted up her shirt slightly, displaying the long scars that dragged across her limbs. Most of the group held their breath upon seeing it.

"How old were you?" Nikolai asked in his heavy accent.

"Fourteen," Sophie frowned.

The Russian shook his head, eying her with pity. No child should've had to go through that. Now, he knew why this girl was so anxious and pessimistic. It was a wonder how she slept at now. Though judging from the bags under her eyes and almost gaunt-like appearance this girl had, she probably hadn't. In years.

"Damn, from those scars you'd think you got into a fight with Freddy Krueger." Edwin said with amazement, poking at the rough scar on her left arm. Sophie flinched away from him. And she was not at all amused at him making light of her situation.

She simply glowered up at him. "Freddy Krueger had four blades, jackass."

"Wolverine?" Edwin then suggested.

This was only pissing her off even more. She stood up on her feet. "You think these are a fucking joke? You think what killed Cuchillo, Mombasa, and is about to kill us is a joke as well?" Sophie snarled at him, raising her arm with the long, grooved scars. Realizing his error, Edwin immediately looked away. They could feel hairs on the backs of their necks standing up.

"So, they're bigger, faster, stronger, have enhanced reflexes and senses, energy-based weapons and projectiles, a cloaking device, infra red vision..." Nikolai began to list.

Sophie smiled at them, which was confusing given that she looked depressed all the time. "And that's precisely why we're all fucked."

Royce patted her on the shoulder. "Give yourself more credit, kid." He told her. "You managed to best it by stabbing it in the neck and you were only fourteen."

"And now it wants revenge." Nikolai added with a sad nod.

The sun–a blood red orb–sunk below the horizon. A tidal wave of shadows washed over, drowning them. Stans scuffled up his short black hair, pacing around restlessly. "We should get going. Now. Right fucking now." His voice was panicked.

Sophie, on the other hand, was strangely full of clarity through her rampant heart rate. "No, it wants you to run. Don't give it what it wants."

"She's right. We wait here. Survive the night. Tomorrow we go back." Royce agreed.

 _"Back?!_ For _what?!_ To save it the walk?" Stans shouted in disbelief.

"It had a ship."

That made Stans snort loudly. The rest of the crew was quiet, including the always silent Hanzo, who just stood back and observed. "A ship? A ship?! What are you gonna do with that ship, man? Push the start button? Throw it in gear and drive home?" Stans was becoming unglued like Sophie had many times before.

"Sophie is right! That thing fucked us seven ways to Sunday! You saw what it was doing back there? We're gonna end up as rugs and ashtrays! We're dead meat! We don't have a fucking chance!"

Sophie was sure the alien hunters could hear them by now. Though she had some sort of strange sense that they wouldn't attack now. The kill wouldn't have been 'clean' or exciting for them if they just ble them to smithereens. Royce had a stone cold expression on his face.

"It's made of meat too." He answered.

"This little girl managed to outwit that monster with no weapons and no training, imagine how deadly we are now," Royce looked over to Edwin. "Sorry, Doc, you don't count."

"None taken," Edwin smiled lightly.

"Knowing what they are isn't enough to stop them!" Stans continued to rave.

"Oh, but it is, now stop flailing your arms and shouting like a girl before those things find us."

Sophie rolled her eyes. "I'm positive they already know where we are, Royce. These monsters are top-notch in everything humans we lack."

* * *

The night had finally come. Despite being exhausted from walking all day, as well as having to deal with strange and disturbing shit, and almost getting killed, Sophie could not sleep. That was how the anxiety worked. Even the smallest micro subconscious thought was enough to set her off.

Her hands were trembling as she sat cross legged on a large rock. The others were setting up trip wires and other small traps around their camp to prevent anything from coming in. Those traps were weak and pathetic. A piece of string wasn't going to keep the alien hunter out. With the darkness came the negative thoughts, Sophie was pondering how much longer the night on this planet would be. If she were the alien monster, now would be the perfect opportunity to strike. While Sophie was shivering in fear.

She had been watching the crimson sun setting. Beyond it, visible in the great distance, are massive, angular chunks of an alien planet, floating in space. A dying, shattered world. Sophie sat on a rock cross-legged with her hands around her knees for support. The others were grouped around a small fire eating the suspicious berries that Edwin bravely scavenged for. After he ate them, only then did they decide to eat.

All but Royce, alone, climbing the rocks underneath the waterfall they were camped in towards Sophie. Her eyes remained on the dark sky. He held a makeshift torch, leaning it against the rocky wall before seating himself beside her. At first, he said nothing, only gazing up at the numerous moons, asteroids, and broken pieces of planet placed in the sky.

"I never gave much thought about to what was out there," Royce admitted to her in a rare moment. "I thought astrology was always a useless study, we were never going to be out in space. Should focus more on ourselves and the planet we were already inhabiting." He let out a long sigh. _"Boy,_ was I wrong."

"What do you want?" Sophie groaned. She hated it when her parents wouldn't cut straight to the point when they wanted something. Royce didn't seem like that type too either. Not even bothering to look at the mercenary, Royce regarded her for a minute before looking back up at the sky.

"I want you to fight back, that's what I want," Royce stated. "But, what I need you is for you to be a team player."

She snickered at that. "I thought you said you worked better alone. You said it yourself, you aren't doing this."

"That was before I knew what we were up against."

"Hate to disappoint, but I'm not exactly a fighter."

Royce stood up, holding his gun, as well as Mombasa's. "To the contrary, I think you are. Otherwise you wouldn't be alive today."

"The only reason I'm alive is because that monster's master forced him to spare me, and now he's dead." Sophie reminded him in a louder voice, making sure it was heard. Royce disregarded that.

"Because they have a code of honor."

"Only the good ones, and even the good ones are barbaric killers. We wouldn't stand a chance against it."

Sophie had begun to shake her head, but Royce continued to break through the walls she had thrown up all these years. He grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look into his face. "Kid, it can be done. If a girl managed to outwit one of those things, a man managed killed one of those things, imagine what all us; trained killers, can do to three of them."

"I'm not a trained killer," Sophie let out a sigh.

"No, you're not," Royce agreed, tossing her Mombasa's AK. "But, a one percent chance is better than a zero percent chance."

"Hardly makes a difference."

"Every little bit counts, now get up, I'm going to teach you how to shoot." Royce ordered her. "There will be no more of this moping around, fatalistic garbage you've been doing. You may be right, we may not stand a chance, but I sure as hell ain't goin' down without a fight."

That was when Sophie stood up in defiance. "And that's precisely what they want."

"No, this isn't about them, this is about what I want. What you want." the mercenary corrected her. "Pick up the gun."

Letting his words sink in, Sophie let out a groan before picking up Mombasa's gun. Apparently, he didn't trust it in Stans' hands and Sophie couldn't blame him.

Royce was moving her arms around like Sophie was a mannequin. "The dominant hand remains on the pistol grip and fires the weapon. The off-hand does the support work, including loading/reloading and charging." He explained to her. "With your right-hand thumb hooked around the pistol grip, place the middle finger of that hand on the safety lever. Use that finger to sweep the lever from safe to fire and back again when you are done firing."

"I've never shot a gun in my life, it's too late to learn–" Sophie began to protest.

Royce raised a hand to silence her. _"I don't wanna hear it!"_ He said in a loud, sharp voice, before continuing on like Sophie had said nothing.

He showed her how to load and reload the gun. Royce couldn't have Sophie fire the gun as they had to conserve ammo, as well as not arouse the alien predators into a fight. "When it's time to engage, roll the rifle up to your armpit, sweep the safety and drive on."

Sophie repeatedly got into the swing of how to load, reload, safety off, safety on, aim, fire. It sounded so simple yet Sophie knew she wouldn't remember all of this when it came to a fight. After learning sufficiently enough from Royce, he began teaching her how to use his own gun: a shotgun.

Surprisingly, Sophie had forgotten all about the alien predators. For the first time in four years, she wasn't anxious as Royce was teaching her this. Her mind was focused on learning the do's and dont's of the gun. It was strangely relaxing to her.

After learning the basics about shooting a gun, Sophie decided to join them at the campfire. Eventually, she managed to fall asleep. Everything about today had taken a toll on her. Sophie strapped the gun around her, sleeping next to Isabelle and a plenty far away from Stans, who was bitter that she had a gun. It seemed like the moment her eyes were closed that she was fast asleep.

* * *

 **Yautja translations**

Kvar'thwei - "Hunter's Blood" (derived from kv'var-de meaning "hunter". A name of my own creation)

Bakuub - "Straight Spear"

Dachande - "Different Knife"

mei'hswei - "brother"

sivk'va-tai - "Plasmacaster"

ooman - "human"

pyode amedha - "soft meat" (insulting term for human)

ic'jit - "Bad Blood"

hult'ah - "hunter"

dai-shi - "Bio-Mask"

kv'var - "hunt"

than-guan - "Midnight"

ta - "at"

Ta than-guan - "At midnight"

 **Basically what they said at the beginning was "Do we hunt?" and Kvar'thwei answered "At midnight"**


	8. The Plan

Sophie's eyes flew wide open when she heard the scream. So full of fear and pain that it iced her blood. And so familiar. Sophie wasn't the only one who jumped to her feet. The others were immediately awakened. "What the _fuck?"_ Stans exclaimed. "Who's screaming?"

They sounded so shrill, high-pitched like a girl's. It was echoing from the forest all around them. At all angles. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no..." Sophie began, clutching both ears.

Everyone, except for Stans and Edwin, had their guns raised, waiting for what was going to come. Isabelle was looking through the scope on her sniper rifle. "I don't see anybody," she answered. "This must be a trick!"

"It's no trick, those are my screams." squeaked Sophie as she stood frozen in place. The fear paralyzed her. But her heart was racing a million miles a minute.

Edwin had a confused look on his face. "Fuck you talkin' about?"

Another agonized scream rang throughout the small lagoon. Sweat started to pour down her face as the panick pumped through her veins. Sophie could almost feel her back being laid open at the very memory of Kvar'thwei attacking her four years ago.

 _"HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!"_ the voice screamed out, before the screams went on repeat. Almost like a loop in a voice over.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!" Stans yelled on the top of his lungs, almost louder than the screams.

"They're here... _they're here!"_ Sophie then shouted, walking up to Royce. "It recorded my screams!"

The kid looked like she was about to burst into tears any moment. As Sophie was about to kick into panic mode, Royce promptly slapped her across the face. Sophie let out a startled cough. Her damp hair sticking to the side of her now burning cheek.

"Keep it together, girl!" He warned her. "They're trying to scare us!"

"Well, I'd say it's doing a pretty bang up job of doing it!" whimpered Stans, also on the verge of tears. Nikolai stood protectively in front of Sophie. His chaingun out.

"No worries, little one," he said in his heavy Russian accent. "Nikolai will protect you."

Sophie's recorded screams began to overlap each other, like someone was doing a remix of them. All stood silent, cautious, ready to spring out, but could only listen to them in the meantime. No doubt it was one of the most fucked up things they had ever heard. The sound of someone dying. Even though Sophie did live, she pretty much was dying to that Youngblood.

Soon, the screams began to die down. "They're here," Sophie whispered to Royce. She saw his Adam's apple bob up and down in his throat. A drop of sweat on his face, but the mercenary nonetheless kept his cool. "I know they are." Royce said back.

"Bastards." Isabelle cursed under her breath, still holding her sniper at the ready.

The chorus of horror was gone, but Sophie felt a mixture of relief and anger. Now she really wanted to kill that fucking monster. Whom had done nothing but torment her these past four years. That was a nasty fucking trick to do. Sophie was about to retreat back towards her sleeping grounds when she stopped and turned around. No, she was not going to simply go to bed after this one.

Filled with hate, Sophie stomped to the edge of the rushing lagoon. Her eyes scanning the treeline. She couldn't see the alien freaks, but Sophie sure as hell knew they were in there.

"I know you're there!" Sophie then shouted.

All heads turned to her. "What the fuck is she doing?" Edwin whispered with curiosity. She wasn't one to scream like Stans always did. Her eyes were filled with resentment.

"You think this is funny? I'll tell ya what's funny!" she screamed into the wilderness. _"Me riddling your body with bullets! You're already the joke of the God damn century for losing to a little girl!"_

Royce slammed his hand over her mouth. He gave her a hard stare. "I admire your enthusiasm, but taunting the enemy... _never smart."_ Royce said in his hoarse voice, shaking his head with disapproval.

Yelling at the not empty forest seemed to have done its job for Sophie. Now she was a little more relieved like before. Although the screams had undoubtedly unsettled the girl. She couldn't go back to sleep, she didn't want to go back to sleep after that.

The alien hunters had at least succeeded in that.

* * *

A form manifested in the foliage. Hanzo was twenty feet off the ground, resting in the crook formed by trunk and limb. Stans was perched on another tree. Edwin, across from him, scraped moss off the tree onto a leaf.

Waiting for dawn. A new day. More fighting.

Sophie clutched the stock of her gun. Staring out into the alien jungle beyond. Her mind elsewhere. She had decided to put more effort into trying to fight the alien hunters and at least not give up. It was a source of great conflict for her. Either do what you really wanted, which was to fight back, but also was what the aliens wanted. Or deny what the aliens wanted and kill yourself. Yet Sophie couldn't bring herself to do it.

Royce made her realize that. Otherwise, she would've done so already. Even after what was now her second encounter with the alien hunters. She looked over to him. His eyes were closed. Though she doubted he was really asleep.

His eyes fluttered open upon feeling like someone was watching him. It wasn't one of those monsters, it was Sophie.

"What?" he asked in an unfriendly tone.

"Just wondering what happened to you to make you so fucked up, like, none of this seems to phase you at all," Sophie replied. "We all know what fucked me up."

"It's always been a jungle, kid. Here and back home." Royce sighed, getting up off the rock. "You're either a predator. Or prey."

The more Sophie thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense to her. She was attacked relentlessly at home. Maybe not by alien creatures who tried to stab her and kill her, but the humans would do so in other words. Words seemed to hurt worse than any cut by a knife.

It was starting to get light out, which immensely relieved Sophie. She honestly didn't think she would survive the night. But now that only increased her anxiety. The alien hunters were planning something. Of course they wanted this to be drawn out as painfully and fearfully as possible. That's how those sick fucks operated.

A breeze swept through the jungle. Branches rippled, like the surface of a lake after a stone throw, the effect spreading into the distance.

Until it reached—

"Guys!" Isabelle called out to them.

She had her sniper rifle resting on a large, wet rock and was gazing into the scope. Sophie immediately dreaded what she was going to say. The alien creatures no doubt. She then reacted, startled, opening her mouth—

Royce's hand wrapped around it. Shaking his head, he lets go.

Isabelle snapped up the rifle.

It was completely silent but they all knew what she had seen. The shimmer in the light. The alien monsters camouflaged. "Sophie, go wake the others." Royce ordered her like he was her drill sergeant. She didn't like being bossed around. Then again, I am just a kid, Sophie reminded herself. It didn't take much to wake them up. Hanzo was already awake. The others couldn't sleep after hearing the dreadful recordings of Sophie's screams and pleas for help from the aliens.

Now out in the trees, everyone was alert, looking out in different directions, waiting for an attack. A bug landed on Stans's neck. He crushed it, eyes never leaving the jungle. Sophie had her gun aimed away from the crew, but just a tug of her finger would pull the trigger.

Isabelle was glued to the scope. "Why isn't it coming?" she whispered.

Royce narrowed his eyebrows. "...It's waiting."

She glanced at him, shaking her head. She didn't have a shot. Sophie grumbled like a frustrated child, holding the AK lazily pointed to the sky. "I hate waiting." she complained. "Those assholes."

"We could set up a perimeter," Nikolai then suggested, crouching beside the two. "Completely surround the creature and fire in every direction. Course, we'd have to be careful not to shoot each other of course.""

Edwin shrugged dramatically, briefly holding his arms out. "Well to do that, we would need to bait them in."

All eyes promptly turned to him. Isabelle and Royce looked to each other as if they were reading each others minds. Stans smiled at Sophie, who surprisingly returned it with a wide smile herself. And that was when it dawned upon Edwin.

"Please no." Edwin begged.

* * *

Why he ever agreed to do this, Edwin would never know. Now that the thing was chasing him through the fucking forest, Edwin changed his mind. Though it was too late by this point. He was already in the frey.

Twenty feet from his left, a blur was moving parallel to Edwin, matching his pace. Edwin kept running, leaping logs, ducking low branches. He briefly slowed down upon not recognizing this part of the jungle. He couldn't see the others. "Shit, shit," he cursed.

He started sprinting upon hearing a shrill, shrieking noise approaching closely on his tail. The hunter adjusted accordingly in order to catch up to Edwin. Sophie saw Royce crouched beside Isabelle with his own gun drawn, waiting for her to get a good shot. Sophie had reluctantly agreed to hide by herself behind a trunk. The others had to do it as well and if she was going to be a part of the team, Sophie would have to put herself in daner too.

"I hate this, I hate this, I hate this!" Edwin was quickly saying to himself.

She couldn't see what was chasing him. Sophie wasn't sure whether or not it was the alien hunter. It continued to strobe through the bushes. Too fast for Sophie or even a good shot like Isabelle to get a good beat. Eight yards out...six...five...Isabelle counted to herself, her finger tensed on the trigger. Four yards.

Edwin could hear it approaching-still, he never looked back, just hauling his own ass. "Fuck, fuck, fuck! A little help here?!" Edwin managed to holler whilst panting. The creature was almost upon him. Its talons long, black, jagged and spread out like it was going to eat him. "FUCKING SHOOT ALREADY!" Edwin screamed knowing that it was right on his ass.

 _BANG!_

The thing was blown off to the side, collapsing across the ground. Edwin came to a skid before resting his hands on his kneecaps, catching his breath. Royce and Isabelle had a look of confusion. "You didn't shoot?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "No."

Sophie did, they quickly realized. They looked to the high school girl, whom lowered her rifle with an unreadable expression. Isabelle was surprised to see Royce grin. "Looks like she's finally joined in the game."

Nikolai slapped Sophie on the back, a little harder than he intended to. "Nice shot, Sonya." he congratulated her, using the Russian nickname for Sophie. She honestly didn't really mind. Edwin, on the other hand, looked like he was going to burst into tears. "Fuck... _ALL OF YOU!"_ he yelled at the crew.

Too bad no one seemed to care about what the bait had to say. They stood over the slain monster, with Stans kicking it once in the ribcage. It wasn't the alien hunter. No way it would go down in a pathetic fight like that.

"Is it dead?" Stans continued to prod it with his sneakers.

Royce managed a nod, before looking to Sophie. "Not bad, kid."

Their eyes were back on the creature. It looked like a praying mantis sort of stick bug; multi-jointed limbs protruding from its exoskeleton, covered with sharp bone blades. Definitely not a Predator, as Sophie had decided to name the species. More importantly, a harness was stretched over its chest. In the center, a broken altimeter.

Stans let out a long groan. "Fuck me," he said. "It's one of us!"

They reacted—being sitting ducks and all—practically feeling another incoming round screaming toward them.

Instead, a low, quiet rasp:

"Over here."

As if being hunted by Predators was bad enough, now they were being haunted by the ghost of their prey, Sophie guessed. She honestly wouldn't have been surprised if pigs could fly at this point.

"Over here."

Everyone spun towards the voice with guns raised. Nothing there.

Behind them now, the voice called out again. "Over here."

Everyone, save Royce, reflexively swung that way. He then felt the tip of a burnished barrel brushing his ear. Royce turned to find himself facing the business end of a long rifle. Only alien and much more bad ass. At its terminus, jungle. And two eyes.

"What are you?" The voice demanded.

Sophie was as tensed up as the others. Royce couldn't have remained anymore calmer.

He simply shrugged, "Fucked. How about you?"

* * *

The barrel pulled away from Royce's head. The jungle seemed to shift as a camouflaged form composed of leaves and vines, stepped forward. The ultimate suit. The kind that Predators wore to blend into their surroundings, Sophie noted. Yet this Predator was too small and too...human to be one.  
Its hood was pulled back to reveal-A human. An African man in his late sixties. Hard open face, battered by elements and age. Scars. Burn marks. It wasn't the years, it was the mileage.

He took in the crew with a long panoramic glance. Sophie guessed that he didn't like what he saw given the sour expression on his face. His voice had  
the inflection of a man who hadn't used it in a very long time.  
"And you're sloppy," the man added to Royce's jester. "I've been hearing you for six hours. Smelling you for eight. And if I can, so can they."

He looked up at the cloudy sky.

"It's going to rain soon." he simply said before walking away.

"Wait," Isabelle then called out to him. "Who are you?"

He hesitated for a few moments, looking back at the new game that had joined him. "Noland. My name is Noland." he responded. From the way he spoke, the sound of his own name seemed almost unfamiliar to him. As if it had been a long time since he said it.

He strode back into the jungle. The crew traded glances before deciding to follow. Sophie, however, was unsure about this man. No one could be trusted in this great game that the Predators had put them in.

She found herself walking side-by-side with the also wary Hanzo of the Yakuza.


	9. The Scavenger

High stone walls loomed over them. Noland headed for them, moving with the practiced precision of a seasoned hunter. An odd sight ahead stopped them in their tracks. Three Predator skeletons—ancient, bones bleached, rib cages pulverized, skulls shattered—laid on the ground. The blades didn't have a speck of rust, even after all these centuries—driven into one another, locked in an eternal struggle. They took in the eerie sight, staggered by it.

Sophie glanced at it a little longer than the others did. Hopefully they wouldn't end up like that. Noland just brushed past it. He'd seen it all before. Thunder clapped in the far off distance. Plants began to close up. Noland picked up the pace, before turning around to the crew.

"Hurry." He spat at them.

Drops started to fall. Sizzling on the skeletons. One hit Sophie on the shoulder, burning right through fabric.

She yelped once. "Shit, make that acid rain. _Figures!"_

Stans laughed until he got pelted by a couple drops. There was a dead end ahead. Sophie had no idea where this weirdo was leading them. Was it into a trap?  
Noland marched towards it, undeterred. He pulled back a heavy camouflage net, revealing a cave entrance behind it. He disappeared inside. It was either be smoldered by acid rain or trust this PTSD-looking stranger in his hole of darkness. All of them immediately ran inside.

Nikolai pulled a Claymore from his pack. Planting it, about to string some trip wire around their camp. Noland shook his head at the Russian. "Too smart for that." He told him.

He moved off into darkness. Clearly, this man knew every inch of this place. Yet we know nothing about this man who was so helpful to us, Sophie thought to herself. The passage continued ahead, curving to the left. Noland pushed up against a wall. A hatch opened up from the pressure.

After Isabelle and Edwin were the last ones to enter. Noland pulled a heavy trap door closed behind them, securing it with alloy rods. He then turned up a dial on some strange device. Light washed over, illuminating the place. It was large and spartan. There was a cot next to the hatch, a makeshift table and bench, all sorts of guns and magazines, bits and pieces of gear everywhere. Some were man made though Sophie could tell that most of it was alien.

A scavenger's den.

Noland put down the rifle. As he peeled off his suit, he asked. "They drop you in?"

Royce nodded.

Noland grunted, his body shaking as he did so. The way he laughed almost made him sound crazy. Only Sophie decided to put in her input. "I woke up without a parachute. They snatched me up in their ship and drugged me." She explained all at once.

Royce could attest to this. He was the one who found her unconscious on the ground. The asshole Predator youngblood Kvar'thwei most likely just dropped her off onto the ground, not wanting to risk hurting his delicate prey just yet. Sophie could only imagine it.

Stans eyes were filled with greed, envious of all the scavenger's stuff. He knocked on a chest plate of armor, liking the sound. "Where did you get all this?" he inquired.

Noland wasn't appreciative in his tone of voice. "Off the guy who didn't need it anymore," he answered, snatching it from Stans. "Don't touch my stuff, Agent Orange."

He began humming to himself in his gruff voice, stirring some sort of stew he had made. It might as well have been shit. But at this moment in time, there was no complaining. Sophie and the others hadn't really had food in the day and a half or so since they had been here. All the adrenaline and constant threat of death forced them to ignore the hunger pains.

Isabelle broke his awkward little tune. "How long have you been here?" she asked.

Noland motioned to a wall before taking a sip of his soup. Thousands of lines were carved into stone. Thousands of days. Years. Maybe even decades. Nikolai slowly shook his head. "Jesus..." he muttered under his breath.

Noland shook his head. "Don't see much of him around here. We win the war?"

"Iraq?"

"Vietnam."

Fuck, this man had been here since the 1970's. So even if they killed the Predators, there was no way off of this rock. They were stuck here forever. Just trying to survive. Almost as difficult as high school, the more Sophie thought about it. Sophie held in all of the horror on the inside.

"No, we lost." she answered.

Noland let out an exhausted side. "Figured we wouldn't. Victory's in the mind. We lost before we even went in." He took another bite of soup, eating a chunk of meat. "The same for here."

"Then, how did you survive this long?" Edwin then interjected.

"Being smart. Keeping my head down. Salvaging what I can, when I can, from whatever I can. Making sure they don't know where I am. You want food?"

Edwin gave him an over excited nod. Noland nodded to an earthen bowl. Edwin peeked inside, quickly losing his appetite. Berries it was.

"I'd tell you it tastes like chicken. Except I don't remember what chicken tastes like," Noland told him. "But you can live on it."

Sophie wasn't entirely sure about that. Who knew what was in the soup. Who knew what affects it would have on a mind for over four decades. "What is this place?" she asked.

"Far as I can tell, a game preserve. And you and I are the game." Noland answered.

"They stock it." Royce said, not a question.

"That's right. You're lucky. Most humans don't make it this far." Noland leaned over to look at Sophie. "Least of all a little girl. Granted, I wasn't much older than you when I was taken." He smiled once. "Drafted into the Vietnam war at eighteen. Six months later, I was drafted into this fucking place."

Sophie couldn't help but feel sorry for this bloke. He was trapped on this planet constantly being hunted and just trying to survive for over five decades. "So all this is just for sport?" Isabelle scoffed.

Noland raised his finger in objection. "I didn't say that," he corrected. All ears were on him. "Every year they bring in the fresh meat. Shit you wouldn't even believe. They hunt 'em. Kill 'em. But every so often one of us kills one of them. That's when they get real interested. Slice the poor son of a bitch up. See what makes him tick. Next season, when they are back, maybe their weapons have changed, or maybe their armor. Their tactics. They better themselves here. And truly, that is the essence of it. You can only become stronger on the battlefield. Sure, the gun range helps. But nothing compares to experience."

This was so true, Sophie thought to herself. Yet she managed to kill that praying mantis like animal earlier without a problem. Maybe she was just being arrogant. Everyone traded nervous glances. If they had been practicing fighting for decades and possibly hundreds of years, what chance did a little girl who had only been taught how to fire a gun only hours before stand a chance? Royce and the others weren't much better in comparison. The negative thoughts began to overwhelm Sophie once more.

Royce wasn't interested in the planet's mythology. "How do we stop them?" He asked in his hoarse voice.

"You don't," Noland replied. "You can't."

"They've got to have a weakness."

"Some ones we got. Two or three, I can't 'member. 'Cept what kills a man only hurts them."

Sophie paused for a moment, before giving a slight nod. "Well then, I guess it's a good thing that I'm not a man."

That made Noland chuckle really hard, rumbling through his entire frame. He pointed at her with amusement. "Good one," he smiled with a touch of insanity. Sophie couldn't blame him. She had only been here for twenty four hours and was already going insane. Sophie was surprised that this man wasn't a full blown schizophrenic.

Noland looked to his side, as if someone were sitting next time. He nodded hurriedly, "Sure. Yeah, that sounds about right," He stated, before looking back at his visitors. "We're going to sleep. No loud noises. They're out there."

Sophie let out a quiet sigh to herself. Of course she had to jinx it.

* * *

The storm had passed after what was probably a day. Royce attested to that with his military watch. Noland put the lights on low. Sophie still didn't trust this man, he would have to earn it like the others did. She made sure to check his cot every now and then to see if he was still cuddled in there asleep. He was.

The crew was arrayed around the cave. Nowhere to go. Nothing to do. Just time to kill. And ponder. Sophie hated having to wait. That night only made her impatience worse. But this was the only way to survive. She noticed that Hanzo had his eyes on a piloe of weapons in the corner. She recognized most of them being just guns, knives, and other stabbing or slicing weapons. Hanzo pulled out a katana, studying it with reverence. He pulled the blade half way out of the scabbard.

His dark eyes were reflected in the steel.

"This is old." He said in a heavy Japanese accent. "Very old."

Sophie reacted, both to the statement and the fact that he finally broke his silence in the two days they'd been here. Royce didn't seem to care. In fact, he liked the fact that Hanzo wasn't talkative like a certain annoying guy in an orange prison jumpsuit. "They've been doing this for a long time." He simply said to the Yakuza clan member.

"You speak English?" Nikolai asked.

"Yes." Hanzo replied.

"You _speak?"_ Sophie added with an exasperated look.

Hanzo rolled his eyes at her, turning back to the ancient weapon. "Yes."

Stans had a stupid look on his face. "Then, why didn't you say something?"

Hanzo lifted up his diminished hand. There were two fingers completely missing. "Because I talked too much," he answered. Explaining the missing fingers.

Nikolai merely laughed. Not a sound you heard often in this place. Stans chuckled as well. He then nudged Edwin on the back with his foot. "So what's your story, white bread?"

Edwin shrugged. "I'm a doctor."

"Can't be, every one of us in here has done something bad," Stans turned to Sophie. "Except for Miss Saved by the Bell here. She's too damn perfect and too damn cute to do _anything_ wrong."

Sophie had no expression on her face, which contrasted with the middle finger she flung out to them. This caused Stans and Edwin to laugh together. Isabelle and Royce sat in the far corner, apart from the rest. "Noland's right though," Isabelle pointed out. "Even if we do survive, we're stuck here."

Royce was messing around with the remaining ammo to his shotgun. He gazed towards the bored looking Sophie. "Not me. I'm going home." He stated boldly.

"But how?" Isabelle asked incredulously. "It's a long shot trying to kill these monsters, flying an alien space ship isn't the same as flying a airplane...That's if you even know how to fly an airplane."

"No, but that thing strung up at the camp might know." Royce answered. "And my guess is that it will do just about anything to get free."

Isabelle looked at him as if he had lost his mind. "What makes you think it would help us?"

"Because it has a code of honor," Royce took a long drink of water. "Enemy of my enemy."

"That doesn't make it a friend."

Sophie peered over the table to check on Noland. It was empty. I knew it! Sophie exclaimed into her mind, turning to the rest of her crew in alarm. "Noland is gone!" She said in a loud voice. That was when the smell and sight of smoke began to fill the room.

"Smoke... _smoke!"_ Royce yelled. "Smoke! Get up everyone!"

He kicked Stans on the way to the hatch. Royce moved to the hatch, trying to pull it open to no avail. No dice, it was sealed from the other side. Sophie kicked at the metal door. "Noland! Noland, open this door!" she shouted. "You asshole!"

No response. It was futile. Noland had planned this. Not everyone was worthy of trust it would seem. Stans and the others didn't catch on as quick, aside from Hanzo. Edwin's blue eyes went wide. "He's a scavenger, he wants what we have!" He yelled. Edwin and Stans began freaking out as more smoke filled the room.

Sophie held the sleeve to her jacket over her nose and mouth, as the others began to do with various pieces of cloth or clothing. Nikolai attempts to plug the vents to no avail. They weren't going to die to the Predators, they were going to die a more pathetic death: smoke inhalation.

 _"YOU'RE IN MY HOUSE, MOTHERFUCKER!"_ Noland's voice screamed through the vents. He began laughing like a maniac. In the spur of a moment, Royce jacked a green shell into his shotgun. "Get down." was all he said.

"What are you doing?" Isabelle cried out.

Royce leveled the weapon toward the far wall. Everyone doves for cover upon realizing what Royce was going to do.

 _BOOM!_

Whatever round Royce put into his shotgun. It effectively turned the shotgun into a rocket launcher. The concussion destroyed the metal plate covering Noland's room. Sophie could feel her ears ringing, dust and debris covering her body. She was helped to her feet by Nikolai. With an open exit now, Royce shouted to the crew. "Alright, everybody, grab all the weapons you can carry!"

"No, we need to leave _now!"_ Sophie shouted. "Everything in the God damn forest heard that blow, including the Predators!"

"Then move double-time!" Royce yelled back at her, unwilling to give up all this good weaponry.

Sophie groaned, being forced to lower her sleeved arm and inhale the smoke. It was the only way as she needed both hands to fill a bag with ammunition and grenades. She didn't want to be a pushover, but Royce did have a point. They needed more ammo.

* * *

Noland stood outside, stoking the fire, fanning the smoke upward into his cave. When he stopped. He heard it. He knew that it was already here. "You crazy fucker," he muttered under his breath. Noland booked for the exit but it was too late.

 _BLAM!_

A plasma round plastered him all over the wall. The Predator moved past the charbroiled corpse, looking for fresher, stronger prey. Including the pauking loud-dte kale that Kvar'thewi was so obsessed over.

* * *

 **Yautja terminology**

Pauk/pauking - basically just the word "fuck" or "fucking" lol


	10. Worthy Prey

Sophie was running again, through the twisting and turning corridors of jagged rock, illuminated only by the tactical flashlight mounted on Royce's shotgun. With the crew, sprinting like their lives depended on speed.

At the moment, they did.

Footfalls smashed behind them. Royce and Nikolai, at the rear, laid cover fire. Muzzles flashing and slugs sparked and ricochet off stone. They ran some more. Spreading out and tighten up. Always in motion. Sophie knew that if any one of them stopped, they would die.

The walls glistened with condensation. Closing in.

So did the demon behind them.

To their surprise, Sophie spun around and began laying fire upon it with the AK. She heard a loud animalistic roar of pain in return. She must've nicked him with a few bullets. Enough to kill a man but only piss off a Predator.

The Predator was forced to stay behind the wall they were enclosed in. Step-by-step backwards, Sophie continued to unleash fire in order to delay it from reaching them longer. Ahead, there was another manhole in the wall. Only it was about seven feet up. Royce gave Isabelle a boost, then passage drops down into darkness.

"Come on, _motherfucker!"_ Sophie screamed, completely overwhelmed with a valiant ferocity that the other group members lacked. _"You want some?! Come and get it!"_

Perhaps it was because she was frantic and hysterical again. It just didn't seem to matter anymore. Royce helped the very heavy Nikolai through the manhole, before pulling himself through. That was when he had momentarily forgotten about the shooter. Sophie.

He was surprised by how much Sophie was screaming and yelling at the alien creature. Completely unafraid. Maybe a little insane. But that only proved what Royce believed all along:

Sophie wanted to live. Otherwise, she would've put that gun down and merely accepted her fate. Yet, she was unafraid to die as much as she wanted to live.

"Hey kid, come on!" Royce hollered. "Let's go!"

It didn't appear that Sophie had heard him. How could she over the constant barrages of bullets she was unleashing. The high school girl kept her finger pulled on the AK's trigger. Until no more bullets came out. Sophie quickly tossed the gun and bolted across the hallway towards the hole. Using the momentum that running had provided her, Sophie jumped a few feet and caught onto Royce's hand. He pulled her up with his boot pressed to the wall. Though the kid weighed nothing.

She had fallen through the other side, however a scaled hand tightly wrapped itself around her ankle, jerking Sophie through the hole and throwing her across the rocky corridor like she weighed nothing in less than a couple of seconds. Sophie hit the ground with a grunt. She had also hit the bottom of her chin against the metal manhole, causing it to start bleeding.

 _"SOPHIE!"_ She heard Isabelle scream.

Sophie let out a painful groan, stumbling to her feet with a hand against the wall. She heard a couple of clicking noises from behind her. All breath ceased as Sophie stood up. It was too dimly lit for Sophie to make out where this Predator was. It was cloaked and ready to kill her.

Yet she was strangely calm. Not unlike the last time she came face to face with a Predator. The only thoughts running through her head were only those of her companions. Possibly the only friends Sophie ever had.

"Guys, run!" Sophie then hollered. "Forget about me!"

Sophie swiftly turned and ran back down the corridor she had just came out of, knowing that one of the Predators was following her in close pursuit. Sophie didn't know if it was Kvar'thwei and honestly didn't care. Just as long as her death would give them the time to escape.

But Isabelle was having none of that, she tried to climb back into the manhole to help Sophie. Only Royce restrained her. She began kicking the air in his arms. "No! _NOOOO!"_ Isabelle screamed on the top of her lungs. _"ROYCE, LET ME GO, YOU ASSHOLE!"_

Royce slammed her against the rocky wall and hollered back into her face, _"FORGET HER! SHE'S GONE!"_

He shoved Isabelle forward, who glanced one more time at the manhole, knowing what awful fate awaited that poor young girl. Isabelle reluctantly accepted it and moved forward with the others. Only Nikolai stayed behind. Thoughts of the small girl running through his mind. They had all done terrible things. Not this girl. She should've been shopping at the mall, laughing and being with friends.

Not here.

And she willingly accepted death and threw it away. For what? Pieces of garbage like him? Her life suddenly meant more than his did. His face covered in sweat.

"Bloody hell," He cursed to himself, crawling back through the manhole.

"Nikolai!" Isabelle yelled at him. But he had already gone through it.

"Forget about me!" Nikolai hollered back, trudging as fast as he could with his chaingun. That seemed to come easily to the group, he reminisced.

Now, that was two team members that they had lost. Royce was extremely eager to leave. It irritated Isabelle how easily he accepted losing crew members. "Come on, come on, come on!" He said in a slightly frantic voice. "There's no time!"

It took another shove from Hanzo for Isabelle to start moving with the group again.

* * *

Bakuub couldn't believe that they lost visual over the game. His brother, Dachande, was a great hunter. Yet they just _disappeared!_

Kvar'thwei had thrown a fit over it. He had been watching the oomans ever since their arrival. Especially that one, yet they lost sight of them. Bakuub had been so excited to attack them at midnight. Only to find an empty camp. He tore up parts of his own camp out of complete rage. He had been denied his kill.

Then out of nowhere, there was a loud _kaboom!_ only a few miles away. That was when he knew that the real kv'var had begun. The oomans pauked up and gave away their location like the predictable pyode amedha they were.

The filters kicked in to compensate the lack of vision he was receiving. Most likely, the pyode amedha fired an explosive. Alas, vision returned to his dai-shi. Bakuub could resume hunting his prey. He was the first of his clan brothers to arrive upon hearing the loud noise, having been hunting in the forest at the time.

Now, he could pick and chose his prey from within the kv'var

Bakuub found it interesting that Kvar'thwei included a weak, pathetic lou-dte kale into the nain-de.

She was a tarei hsan, but lou-dte kalei had other uses as well. Especially the ooman females. They were timid and weak to their male counterparts, easy to dominate. They were the extreme counter to the females of his own species. It was nearly impossible to mate with a female Yautja, at least for him, not that the female ic'jits wouldn't want to mate with him.

Bakuub was just not one to be dominated, let alone by a female that was naturally aggressive and assertive, being much larger than the average male. They were the gamemakers when it came to initiating all sexual encounters, deciding which male was the best father for their future sucklings by way of hand-to-hand combat. The females easily knocked the c'jit out of the males, being much larger and stronger than them. But also having the same training that they did.

All of these tedious things just to be with a female frustrated him immensely. Maybe that was why Kvar'thwei placed this stupid looking ooman female into the crowd. Maybe he was going to pawk her to death. The idea sounded refreshing to him. Many of his species had mated with ooman females before albeit most of it through rape. And now Bakuub was curious about trying it himself.

Kvar'thwei gave specific instructions not to kill the loud-dte kale. That was _'his'_ kill, he said, something that irritated the c'jit out of Bakuub. If that stupid pauker wanted to kill the stupid female, Kvar'thwei would have to do it before he did. And he wouldn't have thrown her into the pauking kv'var! Yes it was fun to play with the prey, but that was too much of a risk for just a good pauk.

Yet Kvar'thwei was so fixated on this stupid piece of c'jit ooman that he seemed to forget what claiming a kill meant. He may have no shred of yin'tekai but that didn't mean Kvar'thwei could suddenly make up rules of his own. This universe could only exist without rules.

They do not sow.

He didn't care if Kvar'thwei would kill him for taking _'his'_ precious female all for himself. Bakuub wouldn't simply kill him before that ever happened. Bakuub trilled softly in laughter, imagining all the things he would do to this lou-dte kale. As well as the look on Kvar'thwei's face when he found out that he had taken _'his'_ kill. That made him trill with laughter.

Bakuub couldn't wait for _that_ dtai'kai'-dte to happen.

* * *

Perhaps Kvar'thwei had been right to put the female ooman in after all. After he had chased after his prey in the kv'var, the moment he stepped out into the open, Bakuub felt a couple of bullets pelt him in the shoulder. He let out a loud-pitched squeal in pain. The female ooman that Kvar'thwei was obsessed about had shot him. Had pauking _shot_ him!

At first, the very thought of that had enraged him. He almost leaped out into the gunfire to charge at the ooman c'jit. Then, it quickly melted away into amusement. The female ooman had shot him indeed. She continued to scream expletives at him in her own tongue while shooting. Maybe she provided a good kv'var after all.

And with Kvar'thwei not here, he could do whatever he pleased with the little lou-dte kale c'jit.

The continuous and almost endless rounds of fire prevented him from confronting the female pyode amedha directly. Bakuub wasn't very fluent in the pyode amedha's tongue, but the one insult he recognized was "Fuck you, asshole!", which the female ooman had screamed at him like she had gone hulij-bpe.

 _Fuck you, asshole?_ Oh, she was going to pay for that. Now that she mentioned it...he sure was going to give her a rough pauking once she ran out of ammo.

After what seemed like all eternity, she finally did.

Underneath his tusked dai-shi, Bakuub then smiled. He quickly camouflaged himself before reaching the female several feet away in a few swift strides. She was already through the hole in the wall, but just the tiniest glimpse of her foot was more than enough to get her. He wrapped his claws around her ankle and flung her from the hole. With just a pinch, Bakuub was sure he could've snapped her ankle bone.

No wonder they were called pyode amedha.

The young ooman suckling began shouting to her companions. Not calling for help, but in a voice that screamed for them to run. To leave her behind.

 _Oh, how cute,_ Bakuub thought to himself. The lou-dte kale had yin'tekai.

The code he detested and the code that his former clan held. It only breathed weakness. Yin'tekai were rules that only got you killed. Just like it was going to get this female killed. Though Bakuub supposed that calling for help wouldn't have done anything either. But she amused him nonetheless. Maybe she wasn't a tarei hsan after all.

Bakuub trilled with triumph as his prey ran back down the very corridor it had been fleeing from. A futile, but entertaining attempt nonetheless. He stalked after his very slow prey, itching to unsheathe the al'Nagara in his wrist device, as well as behind his lion cloth, and just run her through it.

* * *

 **Yautja terminology**

hulij-bpe - Crazy

dtai'kai'-dte - Battle/Fight

c'jit - Shit

ic'jit - Bad Blood (Weirdly enough, it resemblse c'jit, the word for shit. Hmmmm)

yin'tekai - Honor

tarei hsan - Unworthy opponent/bug

al'Nagara - longsword


	11. Going Beserk

Sophie continued to run through the cathedral of stone. She was going to try going through the main entrance of Noland's cave, though she was wondering just how long the Predator was going to let her run. It could easily catch up and stop her anytime it wanted. She stopped midway down a hallway.

 _"Shit."_ Sophie cursed under her breath. She must've taken a wrong turn. It was hard not to get lost in a place you knew nothing about. All alone in the dark.

She was dead now. No cover. No exit. End of the line for her.

She cast about frantically, searching for options and finding none. Sophie heard the sound of water sloshing in the distance, drawing near. It was impossible to see where the creature was. It had its invisibility cloak on and Sophie couldn't spot the fluctuations in the light if there was none.

Sophie knew she was going to die, only this time she was more accepting of it. It gave her more clarity and closure. _Wear it like armor and it can't hurt you anymore,_ Sophie reminded herself. Though that wouldn't be enough to stop Kvar'thwei and his other two buddies from stabbing her with their wrist blades. The story might've ended for her, but Sophie prayed to God, if there was one, that the little team she had been a part of survived. Criminals or not.

Its footsteps drew closer, only about a foot away from her. Fuck, she forgot how large these monsters were. Then, it took a step directly in front of her. Sophie didn't flinch once, staring right through its cloak, at the end of the corridor. "Can't say it's been a pleasure." Sophie admitted. "But, four years is a long time to hold a grudge over something you started, don't you think?"

Her predator suddenly uncloaked himself. She was staring into its mud green, muscled chest motted with black spots. Sophie stepped back with confusion. This Predator wasn't Kvar'thwei, the one that had hunted her all those years ago. Its mask was black with two curved tusks jutting out from it. Plus, had little armor, instead having two pieces of leather strapped across its ripped chest, holding its black armored pants up like a belt, making it look more feral looking than their species already were.

But, this wasn't Kvar'thwei. This was one of the other Predators.

Somehow, Sophie felt a little relieved. Only just a little. She honestly didn't expect to die to a foreign Predator. She was certain that Kvar'thwei wanted her all to himself.

Then again, this Predator probably had the same idea too. All that sudden relief was all gone. Now, she was terrified. What was this Predator going to do to her?

It simply tilted its head to the side, reminscent of a cat. Some of its leathery, tube-like hair spilled to the side. In a milisecond, the Predator snapped a claw around her neck, lefting her more than two feet into the air. Sophie choked, grasping for breathe and solace from the pain.

He dropped her and she tried to make a run for it, no matter how futile it was. The Predator grabbed her back by the hood of her pink sweater-before ripping the back of it in half with both hands. Sophie tried to scramble to her feet only to get kicked down. She felt like she had been kicked by a horse right in the stomach.

Pulling off the rest of her jacket, his claws snagged her short sleeved shirt, exposing her left shoulder and scars as well as part of her bra. It didn't take long for Sophie to gather what this creature wanted to do to her. To her, that was more horrific than being impaled by its blades.

Sophie preferred that to being raped any day.

"No, _no!"_ Sophie cried out. _"STOP!"_

He strode up to her, growling, and straddled her from underneath him, effectively pinning her down. Sophie used her free arms to smack him repeatedly on the chest on shoulders before starting to scream. Just like the ones that Kvar'thwei had recorded. She was sure this Predator would record this too. The Predator didn't seem bothered by her flailing around and hitting him. It probably felt like a baby trying to injure him. Sophie gritted her teeth in anger and hissed at him.

It was useless, but she wasn't going down without a fight, no matter what was going to happen next. Just as the Predator was preparing to rape her, it suddenly glanced up to be hit with a shotgun slug right in the shoulder. He let out a roar of pain and rage. Taking advantage of the few seconds of being free, Sophie quickly scrambled towards her feet and towards the end off the corridor-where Nikolai stood with a shotgun.

She couldn't help but through her arms over his shoulders and quickly hug him, despite the precarious situation they were in. What was going to happen to her only mere seconds earlier.

"Thank you," she breathed, barely a whisper. Her blue eyes were wide with trauma. _"Fucking_ thank you, Nik."

Those were the only real words that came to her head after that. Nikolai nodded, his breath quickened. "We can't just forget you, kid." He told her with a slight smile.

Her heart broke in half right there. Though the moment was interrupted by a low, rumbling noise. The now extremely pissed off Predator had been denied his rape and kill. He stood up albeit with its bright green blood trickling down the shoulder. Nikolai was back in soldier mode, stoic faced and all.

The strange looking device on its shoulder-which shot lasers-aimed itself at Nikolai and Sophie. Before she could react, with a strong arm, Nikolai had shoved her to the side while he took the full blow of the plasma blast. He collapsed to the ground, his eyes squinted with pain. There was a large scorch mark running from his back to his front chest.

Sophie grabbed his muscled arm in an attempt to lift him up. Nikolai simply shook his head, before revealing what was hidden in his military vest. They made eye contact. As if they could read each others minds, Sophie blinked with a few stray tears rolling down her cheek. His life for hers. She resumed running down the corridor that led back to the man hole.

Nikolai remained, propped himself up against the wall. Clutching his chest, he waited as the enraged Predator approached him. With a sharp snap, the long wristblade extended, gleaming in the low light. The Predator drove it into Nikolai's mid-section, who merely let out a grunt at being mortally wounded. The Predator lifted the big man off the ground like a scewered piece of steak. Nikolai's throat tightened, as if he were holding back a scream. Sweat pouring down his face and body like rain. The Predator studied him for a moment, waiting for him to cry out. To beg for mercy.

All he got was Nikolai gargling over his own blood, saying something in Russian to the creature. _"Vy...odin...nekrasivo...mat'...zasranets."_

Click! The Predator's eyes snapped down to Nikolai's chest, where six grenades were packed. And he had just pulled the safeties out. Nikolai started to laugh as if he were afflicted her insanity. This was one trophy the Predator wouldn't get.

And Nikolai found that to be hilarious.

 _KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!_

The entire explosion rang loudly through Sophie's ear drums, just like Nikolai's rampant laughter did until it was cut short by said explosion. The ground from which she ran on shook violently like an earthquake, despite how jumbled it was, Sophie didn't stop running. The rocks shifted, chunks dislodging, starting to fall onto the ground. A large rock hit Sophie on the back who was forced to ignore it. She reached the entrance from which the explosion was over.

 _"Sophie?"_ the voice of Isabelle asked. "Nikolai...he?..."

She turned around, seeing all of the others. Smoldering, singed, but alive. Sophie let out an exhausted breath. No one said anything after that. They all knew.

Nikolai killed the Predator at the cost of his own life. For Sophie and for the rest of the team. "He went out with a bang." she answered in a serious tone of voice. Royce lightly pushed Sophie away from the entrance of Noland's hideout. "Let's keep moving then," he ordered as if he hadn't agreed to abandon Sophie. It greatly angered Isabelle, but Sophie didn't really care. She knew she was a goner when that thing grabbed her. Course she had no fucking idea that the thing planned to rape her or that Nikolai would sacrifice his life for her.

They all ran across a barren plateau, which stretched across the land like an island of stone, surrounded by jungle on all sides. Stans stood up, his eyes almost filled in disbelief. He then let out a loud cheer, jumping up and smacking the air with his fist. "We killed it!" The realization dawned on him. "We fucking _killed_ it!"

He held up both middle fingers in the direction of the hideout where the Predator was blown up. "Fuck you, you ugly alien Bob Marley piece of shit!" Stans shouted for the whole jungle to hear. "How do you like us now, motherfucker?! Huh?! _Huh?!_ Wooooooo! Who's your Daddy now, _motherfucker?!"_

The anger and sorrow which brewed inside of Sophie snapped. She stood up to the criminal in orange. "Nikolai is dead! He sacrificed his life to save all of us! Stop prancing around like an idiot!" Sophie yelled in his face, before glowering at him. "There's still too more of them out there!"

"Oh, suck my dick!" Stans snorted, jumping off a large rock like an wild child. "We can take 'em! I'll gut 'em with my lil' wee knife and wee cock!"

He grabbed his crotch like he was Michael Jackson.

By the time Sophie saw it, it was too late. A large purple plasma blast came out of nowhere, nailing Stans right in the back, blowing him out of sight. Sophie's eyes widened in horror once the Predator uncloaked itself before them.

It was Kvar'thwei, unveiled in his full glory.

* * *

There he was.

The monster that brutally attacked her four years ago. And continued to do so in her nightmares ever since, standing before them. Letting them drink in his even more dark and gruesome appearance.

Kvar'thwei wore heavy jet black armor, enveloping his hulking frame like the Grim Reaper's shroud. Desiccated remains of his victims hung around his neck and belt. A triple headed plasma caster rested on its mount. Cruelly cured blades at the elbows, spikes on shoulders, knees and heels. There were gold rings in his leathery dreadlocks. Kvar'thwei looked larger and even more terrifying than the last time Sophie encountered him. The notable thing about him was that there was a strange shaped jaw bone on his mask.

What fucking steroid oats were the Predators feeding him? He was _huge!_

There was that same chilling rattle that Sophie remembered. The laser sight extended, to Royce's forehead. Was it going to kill all of her crew members first before finally killing her?

Royce simply closed his eyes as the plasma caster began spinning, charging up for an attack. He was ready and showed no sign of fear. Kvar'thwei was nothing fancy to Royce. He would give nothing to the monstrosity before him.

Out of nowhere, Stans jumped onto Kvar'thwei's back—not as dead as they all thought he was—repeatedly plunging his shiv into the thing's neck. "Back from the dead, _motherfucker!_ " Stans shouted, along with a joyous laugh. "Think your shitty laser was enough to get _me?_ _Walter Stans?!"_

That caught Kvar'thwei off guard, who was no longer able to shoot Royce or the others. As the Predator tried to pry Stans off of his back, Sophie saw underneath his scorched, bleeding back was Noland's alien armor—a hole through the armored plate, but enough to save his life. Stans clung to Kvar'thwei like a rottweiler; stabbing, punching, slashing, and shouting at the Predator with glee. Now they all finally saw why he was chosen.

He was a fucking animal.

"Go!" Stans yelled at them. _"GO!"_

Immediately, they ran for the hills, quite literally. The roar of Kvar'thwei quickly overshadowed Stans's—throwing the criminal off of his back. Stans merely laughed like the crazed fuck that he was. Ashe flying into his mouth from the brutal wind. Bleeding and dying, Stans would spit on the Predator with his last dying breath. "Oh, come on," Stans taunted with a chuckle. "That all you got? I eat that for breakfast!"

* * *

Kvar'thwei couldn't take anymore of this ooman's arrogance. He drove his single longsword wristblade into the back of Stans—causing him to gasp with surprise—ripping out his spine all the way to the skull. Kvar'thwei loomed over holding the bloody spinal cord and skull still attached. He leveled his heavy gaze on the jungle, searching for his prey. Dachande shimmered beside him, having discovered that his brother died in the explosion. He did not mourn his fallen brother. Only reveled with joy that his weakness was expunged from their species.

Kvar'thwei bellowed into the dark sky. It was the cry of a hunter. Stirring fear in the heart of his prey.

And then the two creatures moved in fast, efficient strides, heading after their prey, fading to invisibility.

* * *

 **Author's note: Basically, what Nikolai was saying was "You're one ugly motherfucker" in Russian. I thought that was a clever way to pay homage to the original. However, Predators did take too many things from Predator, which is why it isn't the greatest Predator film that it could've been. It's too much like the original rather than its own flavor of bad ass. Still, I like the film. Obviously :p**


	12. Moment of Truth

Kvar'thwei scanned the area with the emotional detachment of a crime scene forensic. He shifted his gaze toward the ground. The tracks ended at the stretch of rock. Exponential magnification at rapid snaps. He could see the depressions in the stone, deviations in ground, but no good track.

His prey was trying to get clever.

Undeterred, he began scanning through different vision modes, like a camera changing lenses. Ultraviolet. Gamma. Radio waves.

Finally settling on the chemical sensor. His prey's stench still lingered in the air in the form of their distorted silhouettes. It was like looking back in time and seeing a pheromone imprint left by the person who occupied the space only minutes ago.

The time had come. After spilling the blood of the other oomans in the kv'var, now it was time to finish them. Starting with the ooman bitch who wronged him all those years ago.

Sophie Pace.

Thinking of her disgusting name filled him with even more rage. His other two clan brothers didn't understand why he brought the child-bearer. Bakuub thought he had a hard on for the ooman and subsequently didn't question it. Dachande, on the other hand, could tell that it was something much more. He recognized he malice inside Kvar'thwei. Though he died before he could figure it out.

For if they did, Kvar'thwei wouldn't hear the end of it. Being outwited by a ooman suckling would've forever tarnished his reputation and he'd of been the laughing stalk of his clan.

Kvar'thwei followed, fading back to invisibility, certain that he'd reach his prey. It was technology against survival skills. It mused him watching Sophie Pace squirm during the two days she had been here. Though now he saw something change in her. A different spark in her eyes. The light of hope. That silly ooman thought she was actually going to make it out of this alive. In a way, that relieved Kvar'thwei.

Because now he couldn't wait to watch her hopes come crashing down once more.

* * *

Everyone collapsed, exhausted beyond words. For a while the only sounds they heard were the wind and their ragged breathing.

"They're...running us down..." Sophie heaved, lifting up her ripped shirt once more. It was nearly split in half from that Predator trying to rape her. Isabelle asked Edwin to give her his red jacket, which he promptly did. The jacket did nothing to relieve her of what was coming.

Hanzo managed to catch his breath to speak for a moment. "The more they chase us, the weaker we get."

Not that they weren't already weak and inferior to the Predators to begin with. Royce was panting. "Persistence hunting. Driving us to exhaustion." He stood up. "Break's over."

They continued sprinting for their very lives for the next couple of minutes. Sophie wasn't one for excerise. Most of the time, she stayed indoors as the very outside world terrified her. She wished she had been brave enough to sign up for track. Her legs felt like cement and her lungs were murdering her insides.

She pushed on, there was no choice. No matter how much non-existing energy she had left. Her life was the only thing that kept her running. She looked up to see the star and asteroid splattered sky. They were in some tall grass, which swayed swiftly in the breeze.

Five of them darted across the field, only for one to stop.

Royce glanced back.

Hanzo stood in the center of the clearing. Tired of running. He looked at the survivors. A simple nod. Royce returned it, before forcing Sophie to move. All they could do was keep going.

Royce cut between leafy plants, pushing into a small clearing. Three miles away from the totem. A mad dash was made through an intricate work of tree limbs, so thick and intertwined they formed a kind of hidden, treacherous jungle. A vertigo-inducing experience. Edwin seemed to be the fastest of the remaining four, that was probably since he wasn't carrying weapons.

As they passed, they descend through the foliage, streak toward the ground below toward—

 _"Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight!"_ Chanted the voices of a bunch of children. Sophie stopped dead in her tracks, recognizing the chanting. Royce and Isabelle immediately had their weapons drawn, turning all around to scan for the Predators. Looking up, Sophie saw it. A strange bird-looking drone hovering above them, replaying the recording of her beating up Blaine Hopkins four years ago. Edwin nearly pulled out his hair. "What the fuck, man?!" He screeched.

Royce simply blew it to bits with the loud bang of his shotgun. "Let's go!" he shouted, roughly, running through the dark jungle. Sophie took a long breath before racing after the three.

Kvar'thwei was making his presence known. She already knew they were on their tail, specifically hers. Just...having to announce it like that. Sophie wanted nothing more than to decapitate that monster that tormented her for so long.

Her thoughts came to a halt—along with her entire body—something scaled and strong had wrapped itself around Sophie's mouth, holding her firmly in place. Royce, Isabelle, and Edwin didn't notice that their comrade was missing. He had been so careful to make her separation from the group silent. They simply stood there for a few moments as their footsteps drained out. Sophie had tried screaming, only for it to be muffled by the strong hand, and flailing her arms to no avail.

The Predator uncloaked itself. Sophie gazed up at the monstrosity which held her hostage. She found herself being gouged by two bright blood red eyes, almost like rubies. Only these ones were filled with malice. The mask had a jaw bone attached to it.

Kvar'thwei.

He swiped his other scaled hand across her forehead, through her short, matted brown hair, caressing her head as if she were his pet. The moment he released Sophie's mouth, she let out a shrill, high-pitched scream-which only lasted for half a second—Kvar'thwei clamped it shut again.

It was enough to alarm the three others, who promptly turned around to see their young companion gone. Isabelle was about to go back into the jungle for her. "Isabelle," Royce stated. "Let's go!"

"Hang on just a fucking second, you want to leave Sophie behind, _again?!"_ Isabelle exclaimed at the mercenary.

"The thing has a vendetta for her, she's as good as dead." Royce's voice was blunt. "She told us to run and forget her the last time. So obviously, Sophie doesn't care."

Her voice was filled with venom. "It has a vendetta against _all_ of us! And from what I can tell, you don't care either!"

"You didn't seem to have a problem leaving Nikolai, Stans, and Hanzo alive, but _oh no,_ leaving the little white girl behind? _Fuck that,_ call in all troops."

Isabelle exploded, the total spectrum of everything she's been through in the last two days unleashed like a broken dam. "We can't do this! This isn't right! This isn't fucking right! She's one of us!" she yelled. The others gave up their lives for us! You're wasting it by not going back to save her!"

Royce's calm matched her fury. "I'm wasting it by going back there and dying. Don't you get it? This is a trick. Do you think it would stop for one of its own? It wants your compassion. Your pity. To feel something for this girl. To be human."

She couldn't believe how heartless Royce was being. Nikolai, Stans, Hanzo, and Sophie gave up their lives to save them. Yet Royce could've cared less. There was a chance to save her, but he didn't want to put forth the effort. "You're a coward," Isabelle hissed. "You don't belong here with us. You belong back there. With _them."_

Royce processed every word of this. But, continued trudging through the jungle without them. To their surprise, Edwin stayed behind. "I'm staying too, you're right. You're completely right," he told her. "I'm not as strong as you guys, but I'll do my best. Let's find Sophie, dead or alive."

Most likely dead, but that didn't matter to either Isabelle and Edwin.

They would try and that was all that counted/

* * *

It's over.

Those were the only two words that were in her head. Yet, Sophie continued to struggle by wildly kicking, scratching, and smacking wherever she could. It was futile but she did so anyway. He didn't seem the least bit affected by her attempts at attacking him, aside from a few clicks of amusement.

Sophie was now being near crushed in the enormous alien's muscled arms. One large, scaled hand grabbed her roughly by the chin and forced her to look up. That was when she could see Kvar'thwei's blood red eyes through the sockets of his mask. She hadn't seen them when he attacked her that night four years ago. He also didn't have a strange, yet feral looking jaw bone attacked to his dark mask. Sophie was silent but terrified nonetheless. She had to remain strong and defiant even in death. Though she felt as powerful as a wet kitten at this moment.

"We meet again, Kvar'thwei." Sophie simply said, daring to speak out. His red eyes were glowing. Only filled with vengeance and malevolence for her. As much as Sophie accepted her inevitable death, she still greatly feared being attacked by this creature. She was secretly hoping that this monster named Kvar'thwei didn't plan on torturing her. The pain from being cut open all those years to her still ate at her like a freshly made wound. Sophie could barely stand being poked with needles. She wasn't trained to deal with pain like a Navy SEAL was. She wasn't even trained to deal with high school. Sophie knew she would be doomed if Kvar'thwei planned on torture. Though she was fairly certain the thought had crossed the creature's mind. Especially given how far it had gone to avenge his humiliation at her hand years before.

Kvar'thwei quickly picked her up with an arm and dashed through the lush jungle. He ran at an incredible speed! The dark jungle passing by her in a blur. She was tucked under his bicep like a piece of mail. Sophie could feel her waist being crushed from his grip. That, combined with the fact that this creature was running at an inhuman speed made the ride all the more painful. Though Sophie knew this wasn't even the beginning.

After jumping from what Sophie guessed was fifteen feet in the air, they landed on top of a large rock. Kvar'thwei thew Sophie to the ground, who clutched her sore and aching sides. Her terror nearly consumed her as she looked up at the creature. It seemed to be silently regarding her as she did him. Then she heard the loud _shink_ of metal and saw a single wristblade extend from its wrist device. The blade was two feet long and resembled a scimitar albiet with grooves, to make any cut even more painful. She gulped once knowing that this creature was going to make her relieve that night.

"Sophie...Pace..." Kvar'thwei said in his unintelligible English. Seeing that other Predator attached to the totem back in their camp, Sophie guessed that from the mandibles and lack of lips that it couldn't speak her language properly. It only made his voice sound even more dark and demonic. A fitting voice for a terrifying race such as his.

Why was it always her? The pent up rage and anguish accumulated throughout the years burst like a dam. Sophie had always wanted to confront the monster but not in a way where her life would be in danger. That wasn't possible. But it didn't matter anymore.

 _"Why are you so obsessed with me?!"_ Sophie then screamed, before looking all around the jungle surrounding her. _"Do I look worthy of a trophy to you?!"_

In response, Kvar'thwei merely trilled with laughter. After a few moments of leering at her, Kvar'thwei kicked her in the face, causing her to roll across the solid rock. She hit her head on the other side of the rock before letting out a groan. Sophie was in too much of a pained daze to care about Kvar'thwei striding up to her, each step a stomp in the ground. Her eardrums were ringing loudly.

"No..." Kvar'thwei answered. "Too... _weak..."_

He said 'weak' with such disdain in his voice.

"My friends will kill you!" Sophie had blurted out of hopeless desperation. The only thing she heard was the rampant clicking noises and deep roaring chuckles emitting from his throat.

He was laughing at her.

"You...have...no...one..." Kvar'thwei rumbled, in his deep, distorted voice. "You...are...no...one."

Sophie didn't have a clever remark to say to that. It was true. They did leave her for the second time. She had told them to leave her behind when that other Predator had attacked her. But maybe she didn't even have to. They probably would've left her behind regardless. That made her heart plummet down to the bottoms of her feet. They didn't care about her. Not nearly as much as Sophie cared about them. She was willing to risk her life for them but they didn't care.

Then it dawned on her.

"Well, you obviously think I'm somebody," Sophie blurted out. "You kidnap me and take me to another planet to be hunted down alongside my people's greatest killers? I didn't know you thought so highly of me."

The words had rolled off her tongue as if she had no control over it. Her eyes widened with fear and anticipation at Kvar'thwei's reaction. He let out a shriek of anger, swatting Sophie in the face. He released her and delivered a powerful kick to her chest, sending Sophie flying backwards with a grunt of pain. She couldn't move. Her body hurt too much from the blow.

Sophie took the savage beating, her red blood splattered across her face and Kvar'thwei's fist. She tried scrambling away into the jungle. He was letting her move around, only because the Predator could've easily caught up to Sophie if he wanted. He was enjoying this.

After another brutal clout to the face, Sophie fell into the damp mud. Her chest rising and falling with loud pants. Every part of her body was either throbbing or aching in agony and her face felt like a burning mess. It was difficult to breathe from the way the Predator had strangled her earlier and her left eye hurt to open. She had just gotten the shit kicked out of her by an alien. Yet Sophie was certain she hadn't broken any bones. This creature could've easily snapped any bone in her body with its brute strength. Maybe he was being careful. As to prolong her suffering.

Sophie let out a choking cough from exhaustion. Kvar'thwei circled her like a vulture, like a predator, would its own prey. She always knew she was the prey.

Sophie wiped the blood running down the side of her face, smearing it, before looking at it. More was running down the side of her mouth and from her nose, quite profusely. But there was nothing to be done.

"Can't you just kill me already?" Sophie sighed, in an almost bored tone of voice. Blood was running into her mouth and making it difficult to speak. "Four years is a long time to keep me waiting."

A leering chuckle erupted from within the Predator. She looked up to see him pulling out a vial filled with glowing red liquid. At first she thought it was blood, but it was too bright and a lighter shade of red to be blood. "Don't...worry...I...will...kill...you..." Kvar'thwei chuckled, kneeling down to jab the needle into the side of her neck. "I'm...afraid...it...will...be...awhile...before...you...die."

The needle jab was brief but fuck did it hurt. Sophie felt like he had legitimately stabbed her in the neck. Only that was just the beginning. It didn't take long for Sophie to guess what type of serum or drug he had injected her with. From the moment in entered her bloodstream she could already feel its burn.

And suddenly her body was on fire. She felt like she'd gone back in time to the worst night of her life. Fire was in every vein of her body, covering every inch of her skin, gnawing through the marrow of every bone. It felt like she was buried in the middle of of a bonfire, with the flames on every side. Eating away at her flesh. There wasn't a single cell in her body that wasn't blazing with the worst agony imaginable. Sophie could barely hear herself scream over the pain in her ears. All she knew was that she was screaming and that Kvar'thwei was watching her. She couldn't see his monstrous face from behind his feral mask. But she knew that he was smiling down upon in her. Pleased by how much pain she was in.

* * *

Isabelle and Edwin froze upon hearing her screams. They sounded like the tormented howls of a dying wolf in the jungle. Just listening to them seemed to cause Isabelle pain. But, that also meant that Sophie was still alive.

Isabelle quickly lifted her rifle to gaze into its scope. She could barely make out the alien and Sophie through the scope. It was hard not to see a hulking figure like that 'Kivarthway' or any of his kind. She couldn't see Sophie through the thick, leafy jungle. But she could sure as hell hear her. Isabelle tried to block out the pained screams of Sophie and concentrate.

It was frustrating. She couldn't get a clear shot and even if she did, Isabelle was certain it wouldn't be enough to kill the alien. It was far too strong for that.

But, she couldn't let that child die at the same time too. There was no planning this.

"If I could just get a clear shot..." Isabelle muttered under her breath.

Edwin was slowly approaching her from behind, his scalpel secretly drawn. Lurking in the shadows. Going straight for the kill. They thought he was some sort of doctor. He had to hold back a grin. Yet they were stupid enough to not realize that he was just the same as them.

Killers.

Sophie's screams soon died down. At first, Isabelle's heart rate increased with dread. Did that monster finally kill her? Thankfully, her thoughts were proven otherwise when she could hear the faint sobs of Sophie in the distance. When she tried looking for the alien through her scope, Isabelle found nothing. It was gone. She couldn't make out its shape through the bushes like she could before. Then, her heart stopped. The hairs stood up on the back of her neck as a chill ran through her. Isabelle suddenly felt cold despite how hot and humid it was in this jungle.

 _Where did the creature go?!_

There was a snapping noise from behind her as Edwin triggered the trap. Before they knew it, a heavy alloy mash net sprung out from underneath them and captured them. Both of them then hung uselessly several feet above ground from a tree branch. Isabelle sure felt useless too.

She could hear the sound of someone sniveling and crying approaching. Her eyes darted to the direction. There she was, Sophie, all bloodied and beaten up, tossed to the dirt out of nowhere.

Beside her, the alien instantly materialized and loomed over them.

It was over.

* * *

Royce was silently moving through the Predator camp. Shell casings littered the ground, trees pocked with bullet holes, and the earth marred by grenade blasts. It was a battle zone. Three remaining Predator hunting dogs lunged at the bars of their cages, foaming at the mouth, choking on bark like vomit, trying to get at someone just beyond their reach.

The other Predator was still crucified to the totem just like Royce expected it would. He thought Sophie naming their species the 'Predators' was a stupid name, but at least it made since. Royce carefully approached the creature. "Hey." he said, almost a whisper. He knew it would be enough to wake the creature though. They had enhanced senses.

The crucified Predator snapped back to consciousness. One of the oomans that came into the camp earlier was standing before him. Close. Too close. There was no fear in this ooman's eyes though. Only intent. It wanted to speak with him.

"You can understand me." the ooman said. It wasn't question. Of course he did, the Yautja spoke many different tongues. The ooman picked up an axe from a pile of discarded weapons at his feet. Feeling its weight in his hand.

He focused on the ooman with his golden bloodshot eyes.

"I want off this planet. There's a ship here. Can you fly it?" the ooman asked in a clear voice. So that's what this ooman wanted. Of course. They wanted to go home to his favorite hunting ground. Terra. He studied the ooman for a long beat. It disgusted him to have to make a deal with the ooman. But it was the only way at this point. He was too weak and exhausted to free himself from his barbed chains.

He subsequently nodded to ooman.

"You may be savages, but you appear to have a code of honor that your other buddies here lack," The ooman went on to explain. "I'll set you free. In exchange, you will take us back to Earth."

Slowly the ooman raised the blade...

With a loud _THWACK!_ The ooman cut through the chains binding him. He collapsed limply to the ground, shaking the very earth beneath him. His arm and chest muscles immediately felt relief from the strain of being chained to the totem for that long a time. Although, a soreness just as quickly overtook them. The ooman watched him gather himself off the ground. A certain fear in his blue eyes.

Of whether or not he would keep his word.

* * *

The Predator was massive and imposing, despite his injuries. Or perhaps because of them. Royce stared at him, tensing, ready to fight and die.  
Upon getting up, the Predator immediately grabbed Royce by the neck and jerked him only inches away from his face. At first, Royce was terrified but that quickly dissipated. He reminded himself of how imminent the fate of dying was going to be on this planet. After a moment, Royce knew the Predator wouldn't kill him. He got a close up look of the fucker. It seemed to be regarding him. It made various clicking noises as its mandibles twitched along with its small mouth.

The Predator released Royce by throwing him back.

And then the thing roared.

It was a cry ripped from the depths of its soul. Fierce, primitive, and timeless.

* * *

In one hand, Sophie was limply being dragged across the jungle floor by her wrist while Isabelle and Edwin were in the other. They had been caught by Kvar'thwei's net.

Captives.

Sophie secretly hoped that Kvar'thwei wouldn't torture them like he was going to do with her.

Then, a roar washed over them. Birds screeched while the animals howled. It was as if the jungle itself is reacting to the creature's call. Kvar'thwei's head snapped toward the sound. _Royce,_ Sophie immediately thought.

He must have freed the Predator crucified at Kvar'thwei's camp.

After all, that was the only other creature capable of flying the aircraft that was mostly likely to help them. _Or himself,_ in his case. Sophie remembered hearing him talk about it.

Maybe there was a chance after all.


	13. A Warrior's Heart

Kvar'thwei let out a deep growl, which sounded more like a rumble, upon seeing the other Predator crucified to the totem let loose. Royce could feel the glare behind his mask, but stepped aside when the Crucified Predator took a few steps in front of him—eyes only for Kvar'thwei—set on killing this i'cjit. A disgrace to his clan. The Crucified Predator let out a few growls as well, no where near as powerful as the vocals of his rival. Royce slowly slipped away towards the ship the Crucified Predator had reprogrammed while the two enemy Predators dealt with each other.

Kvar'thwei was infuriated that the pathetic ooman dared to free his wretched mei-jadhi. He had intended to make him suffer just like the lou-dte kale who wrong him all those years ago would. But, he didn't mind killing him in a vicious duel. The fact that it was his own brother from the same litter meant nothing to him. It wasn't like Kvar'thwei knew him too well. Kvar'thwei would show no _h'chak_ to him.

Immediately, Kvar'thwei charged for his brother. Each stomp shaking the very ground. His brother ran at him with just as much audacity. They collided into each other like two avalanches. Being much older and stronger than his brother, Kvar'thwei tackled him to the ground, before landing a few punches to him.

His brother had recently become a blooded Warrior, but still a trainee nonetheless, and as most young, was trained in the modern methods. They depended too much on the cjit system of honor and fighting hand-to-hand. No plasma caster or wrist blades. Kvar'thwei would not lower himself to such disgraceful standards. Plus, his younger brother was smaller, as well as weakened and fatigued from having been beaten and crucified, with no food or water, and slowly suffocating without his dai-shui. He stood no chance against Kvar'thwei but fought anyway because it was the 'honorable' thing to do. That made Kvar'thwei sneer.

This fight was going to be a nain-desintje-de.

While Kvar'thwei continued punching him, his brother surprised him by kicking him off of himself, before quickly leaping to his feet and backhanding him across the face. Kvar'thwei fell backwards into a bunch of mud mixed with blood. He could feel the rage consume him from beneath. His weak, pathetic little brother managed to lay a blow on him.

Kvar'thwei let out a gargled, deep roar before ramming himself into his brother, crashing through a bunch of his trophies, and slamming him into the ground.

Despite being wounded and weakened, his little brother rolled out from underneath Kvar'thwei and ran. The plasmacaster resting on his left shoulder quickly began to rotate before firing a number of shots at his retreating brother. He managed to dodge them until one hit him on the back. Kvar'thwei marched over to the fallen tree that his pathetic brother had jumped over, only to find that he wasn't there.

A plasma bolt whipped by his shoulder.

Kvar'thwei instantly faded to invisibility, his triple targeting beams searching for the shooter. He spotted movement from the corner of the camp leading into the forest. Kvar'thwei completely unloaded his plasmacaster, tearing the jungle to pieces. Return fire scorched the ground, leaving Kvar'thwei's form bracketed by debris. His cloak was useless against another of his own.

Kvar'thwei reacted, firing fast,and running faster.

Above him, his brother—a blur—leaped from tree to tree, blasting back. Rounds collided, exploding in mid air. A fireworks show in the dim pre-dusk light. With Kvar'thwei, still in motion, as a form catapults out of the jungle toward him on an intercept course.

He let out a loud grunt as his little brother crashed into him, falling high from the sky like a meteor. This knocked the wind out of Kvar'thwei for a few seconds. Kvar'thwei quickly recovered and slammed close quarters into his brother, fighting hand to hand. The two of them no better than snarling pitbulls ripping each other apart.

His little brother knocked him back, the two of them catching their breathes and circling each other. Both each others prey.

Kvar'thwei sneered at him. "Perhaps I was wrong, you are worthy of a sain'ja." Ignoring the warnings from his dai-shui to move out of his brother's plasmacaster range, Kvar'thwei quickly focused on a plan. "But that won't be enough to beat me."

"And you are worthy of the title ic'jit, mei'hswei," His brother answered him, before laughing a few times. "I would hide my face forever too if my clan discovered that I lost to a ooman lou-dte kale. _S'yuit-de."_

It was the last word that caused Kvar'thwei let out a roar in outrage at his brother's taunt. Gauntlets smashed into one another as it was armored fist against armored fist. Light green blood splattered. He tossed his defiant brother against an empty cage, the steel buckling. Kvar'thwei's chaingun whipped-drawing itself—locking onto—his brother, as he leaped, pushing the weapon upward.

It fired aimlessly, shooting lines of violet-colored beams into the dark sky. He then sliced into Kvar'thwei's shoulder with his wrist blades, causing him to roar in agony.

* * *

"Here, let me give you a boost." Isabelle quickly stated, crouching down so Sophie could climb onto her shoulders, before using both hands to push the bottoms of her feet up—allowing Sophie to make it to the top of the pit. The walls and ground were shaking, both with the fury of the battle nearby and the rising roar of the engines.

Sophie quickly extended her hand out to Isabelle, who refused and instead insisted upon helping Edwin up. Reluctantly, Sophie did so, pulling Edwin to the top with the help of Isabelle. He nodded to her, grateful. Her body was still throbbing with pain and soreness from the severe beating she recieved from Kvar'thwei earlier.

Sophie looked back towards the fray. The two Predators were locked in combat. A contest of strength, neither one willing to back down until—

 _WHAM!_ —Kvar'thwei delivered three vicious headbutts that cratered the Crucified Predator's mask. He staggered onto his knees, his silver mask slowly peeling off to reveal his green, bloodied forehead.

He wasn't going to make it, she quickly realized. That Predator was their last hope in killing Kvar'thwei, especially now that Royce wasn't here.

"Edwin, help Sophie out, I'll be right back!" Sophie ordered him. She quickly dashed off before either of them could protest. There was only determination in her sprint.

She had an idea, it was stupid, but it could work.

* * *

Kvar'thwei grabbed his insolent brother by the throat, his green blood trickling down his face. Boosters fired, incinerating the ground below as his ship lifted off. Now noticing that his little brother had reprogrammed his ship, he began pushing at the buttons on his device to override it. Kvar'thwei couldn't. The ship was staring to sail into space, carrying that ooman no doubt. It wasn't working and he could hear his brother laughing through the choking hold he had on him.  
With a frustrated growl, Kvar'thwei finally just pushed the self-destruct button on his wrist device. He could only watched as the ship tore itself apart and was blown to bits.

All of his trophies, all of his possessions. Gone just like that.

"You will pay for that, you insolent bug," Kvar'thwei hissed into his brother's naked face. "Your skull will be my first trophy in my new collection."

In either case, Kvar'thwei had still won. His opponent was beaten and about to become just another trophy. There was nothing more fitting than having his brother's own skull.

"I have won the battle, _mei'hswei,"_ he clicked with glee, in their own language. "You chose to fight me in such a weakened, pathetic state. Such honor dictates defeat."

He waited for some pseudo-clever or cheeky response from his brother but received none. So, Kvar'thwei took off his dai-shui and roared to try and strike fear into his opponent, but his little brother was unfazed by this and merely growled back. Waiting for his older brother to finish him off with the final blow. As Kvar'thwei slowly raised his left arm, that was when he saw something in his little brother's eyes. Something that changed. A rapid clicking within his mandibles as his small mouth smiled.

"Does your own death amuse you?" Kvar'thwei asked him, playing along with how pitiful his little brother's attempt at laughing before his death was.

"Not as much as yours will," he answered with only delight. "By the spear of a _ooman lou-dte kale_ no less."

Kvar'thwei didn't understand what his brother meant—until he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder—he let out a loud, tormented roar of agony. When he looked to his shoulder—a spear end of a ki'cti-pa was stabbed right through his shoulder. The blade was quickly withdrawn and Kvar'thwei turned around to see her.

Sophie Pace.

Holding his own slain master's ki'cti-pa.

* * *

Sophie was met with two fiery red eyes filled only with rage. Upon hearing that deep, prolonged cry of agony, that was when Sophie retracted the spear and repeatedly began stabbing Kvar'thwei in the side. He let out more shrill screams, before grabbing the spear and easily ripping it out of her both her frail hands with his muscled. Sophie cursed, knowing how much shit she was in.

She turned to run but Kvar'thwei had already punctured her in the thigh with the spear. The blade went right through the back of her thigh, barely missing the bone. Sharp, sharp, pain erupted through Sophie's thigh, as she immediately screeched in the worst suffering and discomfort imaginable. Those few seconds where Kvar'thwei left the spearblade in felt like an eternity before promptly withdrawing it.

Sophie collapsed backwards into the dirt and bark, clutching her now profusely bleeding thigh. Not a care in the world that she was about to be killed by an overpowered alien. There was too much pain for her to do anything now.

She was grabbed by Edwin's red jacket she was wearing and lifted a few feet into the air. There were more angry sounding clicks coming from behind the black mask with the feral jaw. She should've been terrified, but Sophie merely hung there like a piece of meat. She knew that she would soon be hung alongside the other flayed corpses surrounding her. Becoming one of them.

"That's payback for what you did to me four years ago," Sophie yelled, as if her pain was screaming louder than herself.

She then closed her eyes. She thought only of her parents and her five-year old brother Jacob, as well as her only friend Bryson. _I'm not going to die a coward,_ she told herself. _All of this I did for you._

* * *

Now this ooman child-bearer was really beginning to piss him off. How could something so frail and so tiny be this annoying. Kvar'thwei glanced over the multiple stab wounds he received from her. _If that ooman had aimed any lower, she would've stabbed me right in the pauking heart,_ Kvar'thwei noted, his fury growing with every minute. And now the look that Sophie Pace was giving him was pissing him off even more.

It was the same look his insolent brother gave him moments before Kvar'thwei was going to slice his head clean from his shoulders.

Defiance.

Nothing enraged him more than defiance, even when he had his prey around the neck on the verge of death.

He had allowed this ooman too much freedom and it almost cost him. But _almost_ wasn't close enough, Kvar'thwei reassured himself. He could kill the ooman right now. But where was the fun in that? All that effort he put into bringing her here would've gone to waste. He was determined to make her pay even more for the wounds he had just sustained from her just now. For sure, Kvar'thwei was going to slowly torture and torment the _loud-dte kale_ for years and years and only when he had exhausted every amount of pain and pleasure from her would he finally give her the gift of death.

Kvar'thwei growled, before dropping the silly ooman back on the ground. She wasn't going anywhere with that stab wound now, that combined with the light beating he gave her earlier should incapacitate her. There was no way someone elite of his kind could die to a ooman girl. She was his to torture. Death would be too great a kindness. He couldn't say the same for her companions though.

Or his insolent brother.

From the corner of his dai-shui, he spotted motion from behind some rocks. Orange heat signature of a figure, moving low and fast, skirting the edge of the camp. Making a circle around them. Kvar'thwei had his targeting systems lock on and about to fire-suddenly, the heat signature disappeared. That was because-a wall of fire spread out in both directions. In seconds,the dead brush surrounding the camp was burning.

Heat on heat.

Effectively depriving Kvar'thwei's mask of its thermal vision.

Inside his mask. Nothing. He began shifting modes until finding the appropriate one. Smoke and ash obscured motion sensors, hot wind washed away the scent, and the sound of crackling wood obscured sound.

Amidst all this, a figure stood tall, backlit by the flames, staring at the confused creature. When Sophie did open her eyes, they widened with relief. A slight smile formed on her lips despite the pain.

It was Royce.

* * *

 **Yautja terminology**

ki'cti-pa - Combistick

dai-shui - Bio-mask

tarei hsan - unworthy opponent

mei'hswei - brother


	14. The Hunt Ends

Kvar'thwei's vision was obscured and panning, completely drowned in the ocean of thermal red. He knew that something was out there, just not what or where. Sophie couldn't see his hideous face behind that feral mask, but wished to. Now, the predator was now the prey. Nothing pleased Sophie more than to see it get a taste of its own medicine.

Royce suddenly lunged forward from the flames out of nowhere—swinging a flaming log at Kvar'thwei while running past him—smashing his plasmacaster to bits. And then Royce was gone once again.

A ghost in flames.

Kvar'thwei frantically cycled through different modes. The audio sensor kicked in, filtering out the crackling of the fire, and the snapping twigs.

Until only one sound was left.

Footsteps.

Kvar'thwei spun towards the source. He peered in Royce's direction, who was standing perfectly still, shirtless and covered with mud. His very own camouflage. He was holding the flaming log in his hand, before tossing it onto the gunpowder he had spread across the game. "Come and get me, motherfucker!" Royce taunted the creature, before running into the growing fire.

Kvar'thwei tried chasing after Royce, only for a wall of flame to flare up before him. His heat sensors were malfunctioning. Kvar'thwei let out a loud, frustrated roar into the sky.

He was essentially blind.

Especially since Royce was covered in mud. Knowing this and taking full advantage of his blindness, Royce repeatedly ran past the Predator-hitting him with the axe as he ran by—leaving numerous gashes across Kvar'thwei's body. This only further infuriated Kvar'thwei, who was starting to feel drained from the amount of wounds he was receiving. He knew he couldn't take very much more of this. There was no way he was going to lose to a pauking _ooman!_ It was as if his rage overwhelmed him with the strength and resolve to defeat his foe.

He turned on the audio sensory. The audio readout scrolled next to the visual feed.

The line was flat.

Royce stood quietly still behind a tree, panting and taking a slight rest from swinging his axe so many times at that thing. It was amazing how much strength and stamina it had. One blow would've been enough to kill a human. Yet, he had swung his axe at least twenty times at the thing and it still was standing.

Although now it looked like it was starting to weaken.

He glanced over to Sophie, who was clutching her bleeding left leg, he could see the blood soaking up her pants through the bright flames. Their eyes met during the crisis. They could say nothing but the looks on each others faces already said a thousand things. The other Predator seemed to be resting and watching with intense fascination. It sure would've helped if the fucking thing got up to fight. Although it did look greatly injured itself too.

It was all up to him now. Sophie and Isabelle were counting on him to kill the monster.

* * *

The audio sensors in his Bio-mask shifted. Kvar'thwei increased it with exponential magnification. It was like a super-powerful zoom lens, only for sound. Times ten.

Nothing.

Times a hundred.

And then Kvar'thwei heard the faint breathes of the ooman, desperately held back. He could hear the rampant beating of its puny, heart. A pulsing circle mix of green and yellow auras on his mask, incredibly hard to miss. So, that's where you're hiding, Kvar'thwei thought to himself, aiming his right muscled arm towards the tree the ooman was hiding behind.

"Oh shit," Royce muttered under his breath.

Kvar'thwei fired his wrist blades, like a ballistic knife. Knowing that the hunter had discovered his location only moments before, Royce managed to duck in time. Two projectiles whipped by, missing him by only a hair. The third caught him in the shoulder.

Royce scrambled behind a boulder, sliding against the stone and painting it red with his blood.

Suddenly, Royce was yanked from his hiding spot and kicked across the ground. Despite Royce's impressive physique, he was no match for this creature. Injured or not. Sophie could only watch as Kvar'thwei began to violently beat with Royce with his bare hands. Toying around with his prey like he always did. Now, her hope was slowly slipping and slipping away. As was her focus and vision. Her head was starting to get dizzy.

She noticed the Predator axe nearby, having been kicked out of Royce's grasp during the beating. Having no strength to move, Sophie relied entirely on her force of will to get up. She leaned over to grab the axe while looking over to the resting Crucified Predator, who was watching her with its golden eyes. It began to move as well upon seeing the ooman child-bearer moving too. His scaled hand slowly reached for the Predator spear that Kvar'thwei had disregarded. Sophie limped as fast as she could towards them with an axe in one hand.

She wasn't going to make it. Nor would she be able to kill Kvar'thwei.

As Kvar'thwei's single longsword wristblade sprouted, he prepared to decapitate Royce. Sophie hopelessly tried running despite the blood loss and sharp, prickling pains shooting up her stabbed leg. She let out a whimpered cry and— _SHOOM!_ Something whirred right past her with the speed and prowess of a bullet—a spear landed right in the back of Kvar'thwei. His green blood splattered across the stunned Royce.

Sophie turned around to see that the fallen Crucified Predator had stood up and thrown the spear. This only enraged Kvar'thwei, who launched his wristblade at the Crucified Predator, which impaled him in the chest. The Crucified Predator was promptly knocked backwards from the fatal blow.

Ignoring the agony of her body, Sophie ran towards Kvar'thwei with a vengeance. Like a fierce and primitive warrior, Sophie swung the axe. The blow snapped Kvar'thwei's head back. He staggers backward, hazy and disoriented. There was nothing he could do as the little ooman came at him, axe held high. She smashed the side of the axe across Kvar'thwei's face. The thing's helmet flew off, exposing its face to her for the first time.

He looked like Predator gone terribly wrong. No nose, oversized mandibles, and slimy reptilian skin. His red eyes were full of venom and hate. But they were just as hateful as his. "You look like shit," Sophie spat at him. There were a few strong, but steady stomping noises from behind her.

The Crucified Predator stood a few feet away from her. He began to speak in an unrecognizable language to Kvar'thwei, which with all the clicking noises, made it even more confusing to Sophie. _"Iea rek gen yu fan'um que'num. Omja hel iea, mei'hswei."_ the Crucified Predator barked to his rival. _"S'yuit-de."_

That only made Kvar'thwei growl at him with anger.

And then something...changed in Sophie's eyes. Her blue eyes contrasted with the red ones of Kvar'thwei. But, they were something not quite human either. Rippling under her skin, under the lapris lazuli of her eyes. It was as if some unseen creature was stirring within. Something that all who watched recognized.

Rage.

Sophie, more animal than woman now, drove the axe into the monster over and over and over again, splattering green blood across its neck and leathery, dreadlocks. "This is for attacking me four years ago!" she shrieked into its face.

She then sliced off its left arm with the wrist device, causing Kvar'thwei to howl in pain. A left arm for the two drag mark scars across her own left arm. "This is for ruining my life!"

Kvar'thwei roared at Sophie one last time showing her face at him. She raised the axe. In a calm and clear voice, instead of yelling, she merely said, "And this is for you, you sick son of a bitch."

And with a heave, the human beheaded him. Kvar'thwei was only partially decapitated by Sophie, but slowly, yet surely, his head slowly fell off from his strong shoulders. Rolling across the ground. Spurts of green blood erupting from the severed neck, before collapsing at her feet.

Successfully ending the Hunt.

And ending Kvar'thwei's own life herself. Suddenly, it all rained upon her. Exhaustion, faintness, dizziness, weakness, soreness, pain, throbbing, and breathlessness. Despite all of that, a faint smile formed on Sophie's bloodied face. Royce slowly got up, looking over to see Isabelle emerging from the forest. Edwin was no where to be found and Isabelle had fresh blood soaking her hands. The Crucified Predator merely regarded them before stepping in front of the carcass of his once older brother.

Sophie dropped the Predator axe by her bloody Chuck Taylor shoes. It was over. It was finally over. With a faint smile, she looked over towards a shocked Royce and Isabelle. "I'm free!" Sophie breathed before a couple maniacal laughs escaped her throat. Her knees then gave way underneath her like an overflowing dam bursting. That was what she felt like at this moment. Weak and heavy from the fight she had finally won. She was unconscious before she hit the dirt ground. Not knowing, nor caring for that matter, if she would wake up to live another day or not. Sophie slumped over beside the corpse of Kvar'thwei.

She had conquered her own demons, plus the very demon that tormented her life for so long.

* * *

It was the aroma of smoke that woke Sophie up in the first place. At first, she wondered if she had died and gone to hell. But soon realized it was far to bright and nice out for that. Plus it wasn't as burning hot as she had been raised to believe. Blinking a few more times, adjusting to the light, Sophie recognized the jungle surrounding her. She was still on the planet. She was alive. Out of breath from the thought of what had occurred only hours ago, Sophie muttered to herself, "I did it, I fucking did it..."

There was a soft trilling noise from behind. Her eyes flew wide open and Sophie was in full panic mode. _No! Impossible! I decapitated the fucker!_ Sophie thought to herself hysterically. When she jerked around from where the noise had come from, Sophie instead saw the Crucified Predator sitting on a fallen tree log only a yard away from her. It was wearing its now clean mask and seemed to be devoid of any wounds sustained from the fight. Sophie wondered how that was possible. Maybe because of their medical advancement or its elite stamina.

Sophie slowly sat up, wondering how long it had been sitting there watching her. Was it even, dare say, protecting her? She noticed that the ground was littered with hell-hound corpses. Did the Predator do that?

Which reminded her of another thing—her leg was no longer bothering her. In fact, most of her body wasn't bothering her. Sophie felt a lot better than last night. Her blue eyes were frantic with confusion. How long had she been passed out? How the fuck did she heal so quickly? When she turned to examine her right leg, the worst injury she had received and where Kvar'thwei stabbed her with a spear, Sophie found it a strange blue gel covering over the gash wound. It was completely closed and she felt no pain. She also poked at her face and other limbs like her arms and chest, which were mostly devoid of pain or any bruising. Sophie was sure she suffered from internal bleeding from the savage beating Kvar'thwei gave her. Parts of her body were still sore and in pain, but it was bearable compared to being unable to move for a month.

Sophie went to touch the mysterious blue gel when—

 _"Don't."_

She looked to her side. The Crucified Predator had spoken to her. In a reprimanding voice nonetheless as if he were her doctor. At a loss for words, Sophie managed to gather the courage to talk to him. It wasn't like he was attacking her. Right now, at least. "Did you heal me?" she asked in a meek voice.

The Crucified Predator didn't answer right away, instead staring straight into the jungle. "Waste...of...my...medical...supplies..." It seemed to grumble.

"Then why bother healing me?" Sophie asked in a friendly, but somewhat annoyed tone. The last thing she wanted was to piss this creature off. They were a very proud race and she knew how much they, for the most part, looked down on her own kind. The bushes began to rustle as Royce limped into the small clearing with Isabelle.

"Because he owes us," Royce bluntly stated.

The Crucified Predator uncrossed its arms and roared at Royce for saying that. He wasn't at all bothered by it. Sophie was confused by this point.

 _"Owes_ us?" she asked, incredulously. "Owes us what?"

"A ride home," Royce replied, sitting against the log. "I freed it from the totem pole in exchange for it taking us home."

Isabelle seemed to huddle up close to him. The two seemed quite comfy together from what Sophie noticed. She scratched her head of knotted brown hair, before looking back up to the Crucified Predator. "Then, what's stopping you from taking us home?" she then asked.

The Predator said nothing. That was when Sophie nodded, getting the ques.

"You don't have a ship," She sighed. "We're stuck here."

She would've been pulling out her hair and screaming on the top of her lungs for that, but Sophie was too tired to make any effort at that. For now, Sophie would have to keep her frustrations pent up. Besides, there was too much to celebrate from her standpoint. She was alive. She was free. She felt better than ever. That was enough.

Sophie then stood up to the side in the ash covered camp, looking out over the burnt trees and dead jungle, toward the horizon. Her leg was starting to hurt a little, it looked like Sophie would be limping for awhile. But to be fair, she always had been limping by when it came to life. Sophie watched and admired the pale morning light shone through the jungle vines. "First time in my life, I don't have any idea what to do." Royce said with a defeated sigh.

"Hey now, can't have that attitude to the team," Sophie snorted. "I'll help you, but you gotta be a team player."

Her echoing his words from earlier made Royce roll his eyes, Isabelle smiled, an the Crucified Predator let out an unimpressed trill that sounded close to a snort. She looked back towards the pale cascade of jungle. "I want to _live,_ not survive. I want to feel alive. _Be_ alive too, of course. But, I swear, I'm not gonna end up like Noland, trapped on this God forsaken rock for fifty years and slowly go insane like he did." She let out an exhausted breath.

"But for now, it looks like we will be just surviving then," Isabelle stated, glancing once at the Crucified Predator, who was still leaning against the large fallen tree trunk.

"Will more of your kind come back here?" Royce then asked the creature.

It shifted uncomfortably in its spot, being forced to communicate with the humans. "Only...the...Bad...Bloods..."

 _"Bad Bloods?"_ Isabelle inquired with curiosity.

"Outcasts...outlaws...who...have...violated...our...code...of...honor...intentional...or...not..." It slowly explained to the best of its abilities.

Sophie nodded, taking this information in. It was a small fragment of the Predators culture, but it was fascinating enough to her. Maybe they were more alike than meets the eye. Certainly meets the eye. "So basically, the bad guys, amiright?" Sophie summed up. _Or dumbed down,_ as Royce put it.

"Basically..." It repeated in a mocking tone of voice.

"We killed three of those things, plus we have you to help," Royce reassured the, gesturing to the Crucified Predator. "We should be fine."

Sophie glanced back towards the Crucified Predator, limping until she was only a couple feet away from him. She could hear him growl at her, warning her not to get too close. However, Sophie was not at all deterred or afraid of him. Something that he recognized. She wanted something from him.

"Do you have a name?" she simply asked him. It would be awkward not knowing his name, especially since they didn't know how long they were going to be trapped here. It said nothing for a few moments. At first, Sophie thought it wasn't going to reply to her. Until he finally did speak,

"Guan'thwei," he answered, his voice clicking when he stated his own name.

She nodded to him. "Sophie Pace,"

It merely trilled in response to her. Sophie was certain it didn't give a flying fuck what her name was. It probably already knew her name to begin with. That was when Sophie's eyes rose and the feeling of dread overcame her. She lightly slapped the side of her head. "Awwwwwwww _shit!"_ she cursed to herself, limping back towards Royce and Isabelle.

"What? What is it?" asked Isabelle. One second away from becoming frantic. The last thing they needed was more bad news. Royce was prepared. From the way the Crucified Predator was leaning against the tree trunk chilled, it couldn't be bothered. Sophie let out an exhausted sigh, before smiling to what was now her new family.

"I'm totally going to be late for my high school graduation." She said with a laugh.

* * *

 **And that was Primal Instincts! I really hope you enjoyed it! I certainly did! It's been a nice break from my GoT and Walking Dead stories I've been publishing. I was also thinking of publishing a sequel that will take place during AvP: Requiem. Kinda like a rewrite because FUCK did that movie SUCK. I'd rather smell elephant and gorilla shit than watch that movie again! (Ok, maybe not that far...)**

 **Please leave a review, I would really appreciate it. :)**


	15. Preserve the Game

For four months, they watched these skies, waiting for the Bad Bloods' ship to return. Kvar'thwei and his other two buddies destroyed Guan'thwei's ship when he was first captured, then was forced to destroy his own reprogrammed ship that was leaving for Earth. That left them with no ships and stranded on this game preserve for the Bad Bloods. Royce had changed his mind about leaving Earth, going back for Isabelle and Sophie. He later said it was a stupid move, even though Royce would've died on the ship had he not. That meant it was quite possibly all of them would've died.

Sophie couldn't understand his way of thinking. Royce was the one who told her to be a team player yet now he was the one who wasn't playing. Maybe he just wanted her to hold up her part in the crew so he'd have a better chance at surviving and leaving this planet. That couldn't have made Sophie any angrier. He used her. Royce used all of them. Hell, even Guan'thwei, the fucking predator alien was more friendly to her than Royce was. That was saying a lot considering how proud and cocky of a powerful creature he was.

Granted, Guan'thwei was likely 'friendly' with them, or at least mildly to Sophie, because he owed them a debt. He still had to take them back to Earth and on his honor, he would do so. That didn't make Guan'thwei a friend though, at least in the eyes of Royce and Isabelle. And Sophie certain that Guan'thwei felt the same. Yet, he was their best bet at getting off this planet yet those two still didn't want to cooperate with the creature. Sure, their kind was the reason they were stuck on this forsaken rock. But now their kind was the only way for them to get off of said forsaken rock.

 _Are we so different from them?_ Sophie pondered. _Humans kill each other all the time and do the same to the other animals on our planet, but when another species happens to do the same to us and suddenly, it's wrong._

Royce hated how Sophie always defended Guan'thwei.

 _'There's nothing worse than a late blooming philosopher,'_ Royce had told her.

 _Philosophy?_

Maybe he was right. Whenever she sat down or had time to think to herself would these controversial thoughts pop into her head. They were stuck on an alien planet and were in constant danger. It was a survival game. How could she not lay down and think about it? But, Sophie hated debating with herself. There were more important things to do than finding the answers to the universe.

Sometimes, it was better off just not having an answer. _Otherwise my brain might implode._

After several weeks, Sophie and the others continued killing the creatures the Bad Bloods dropped on the planet and started salvaging gear for survival. Most of the humans they dropped were either untrustworthy or would die while attempting to forge a sort of alliance. For a while, Royce worked with them. He later decided to go back to working by himself after some time. It was just them three from there on out.

 _The Three Musketeers,_ Sophie thought. One pair was alive, while the other was dead.

The others were buried in a tall, grassy clearing in the middle of the jungle. It was where Hanzo had died fighting Dachande in an intense one-on-one duel with just a katana. Upon scavenging the body of Dachande, even Sophie could tell that Guan'thwei was secretly impressed with Hanzo. He had used his smaller size and agile reflexes to fight the creature, but Dachande's strength and constitution was too powerful to be killed from blood loss. Hanzo must have went all in against Dachande in order to kill him, and while he succeeded in killing him, he also collapsed and died. In his death, he had destroyed another 'Predator' as Sophie called Guan'thwei's species.

Just like Nikolai had. Even fucking Walter Stans managed to injure Kvar'thwei.

Those three gave up their lives willingly in an attempt to kill Kvar'thwei and his clan brothers. Sophie found and dragged their corpses to the plains, Nikolai and Stans being the hardest to carry since they were both so mangled and mutilated. Burying Stans was particularly difficult as his spinal cord had been ripped out of his body. The unpleasant smell and sight of death made Sophie vomit upon burying Stans. After the months on this planet, Sophie became used to it. She learned that death was very much a big part of life.

Each grave had a pile of stones over it. The only grave marker Sophie could give. She recognized their graves by Nikolai's battered dog tags, Stans' makeshift shiv, and Hanzo's katana. It wasn't like she could give them a proper funeral or buriel but Sophie was sure they'd appreciate her efforts.

Sophie couldn't find Mombasa's body though. They likely flayed him before taking his skull. That made it impossible to find amongst the piles back at the Predator camp. However, Isabelle did manage to find Chuchillo's rotting corpse hanging from the trees. Most of his flesh had been eaten by the bird-like creatures of the world. Neither of them caring much for the drug cartel that eyed Sophie and Isabelle a little to closely led to them just leaving his corpse there. It was heartless, but Sophie was too worn out to bury him.

As for Edwin, they left his body out in the middle of the forest. He didn't deserve a grave for attempting to kill Isabelle. His body was soon devoured by other creatures of the game preserve. _Before being shit out._

Sophie thought that was a fitting end for him. Edwin turned out to be a psychopathic killer on Earth, that being the reason why he was chosen. Sophie already knew there was something off about him. He had to have done something bad or had some sort of skill in combat to have been chosen.

A doctor.

In the middle of a group filled with armed militants, with the exception of Sophie. There had to be some dirt on him and there was. Isabelle had given into her primal instinct and killed him by his own scalpel. Isabelle subsequently kept the scalpel, not in memory of Edwin, but as a useful medical tool. Sophie felt like she was the only one who cared that the others had died. Royce told her that she was wasting her time reminiscing about the past.

"Their ships come by overhead," Sophie spoke aloud, sitting cross-legged before the graves and picking at the grass. "We kill what they drop, and they drop something new. Most of it is Guan'thwei, he's absolutely lethal. He still won't teach us how to properly fight or hunt though, which is frustrating. But, if he won't, the Bad Bloods will. They keep sending other aliens and humans to fight. They're training us. Keeping us sharp."

She let out a tired sigh. It was probably pointless talking to their graves. Sophie didn't believe in heaven or hell. Only that this life that they had was it. But it comforted her to talk to someone aside from Isabelle. It wasn't like she could talk to Royce. He was going down the same road that Navy SEAL went, the same one that Noland went. All the loners on this planet winded up dead or insane. Sophie would've winded up dead or insane too had she gone alone.

After visiting Hanzo, Nikolai and Stans' graves, Sophie returned home. Or her temporary home at least. It was more like a hut from all the bamboo and thick branches that had been stacked over one and another. But home was where the heart was. Right now, Sophie felt at home. She felt safe for the first time in four years these past four months. On a deserted planet with two strangers. Kvar'thwei was dead but they were still playing the game.

Isabelle had gutted one of those hell-hound creatures the Bad Bloods trained. Surprisingly, its meat tasted pretty good. Its flavor was like chicken except more muted and dull. Like it had sat in the fridge for a couple weeks after the expiration date. But it was enough to survive on and wasn't half as bad as she thought it would be. Isabelle used her hunter's knife to skin the hell-hound, starting from the neck.

"Hey, um, Izzy?" Sophie asked as she approached.

Isabelle glanced up at her comrade, almost smiling at how casual Sophie had become. Though it did remind her of the little girl that she used to be only months ago.

"Yes?" Isabelle replied, before getting back to her task at hand.

"Have you seen Guan?"

Isabelle was smiling widely as she peeled back the tough hide of the hell-hound. She found it funny that Sophie gave a nickname to the large and threatening monster. Isabelle wondered how Guan'thwei would react to that. He most likely would've been outraged that she had reduced this warrior to just a cute kitten by it and had Sophie killed for it.

"I have," she simply replied.

That was all she said.

Irritated, Sophie then asked, "Um, okay, where?..."

"In the jungle hunting for more hell-hounds, go and find him yourself."

Sophie let out an over-exaggerated groan before picking up a gun and entering the jungle once more. She wasn't the least bit trained in tracking like Royce was, which was why she wanted Guan'thwei to train her. Not just in the way that his kind fought, but to learn more about his people, the way they lead, the way they think, and more about their technology and culture. They needed to be prepared for everything and they couldn't do that if they weren't well informed about what they were up against. Royce and Isabelle didn't seem to care about it as much.

It wasn't as hard to find Guan'thwei as the hell-hounds were always noisy. By the time she had arrived there, most of the hell-hounds were slain and strewn bloody across the grass. He was killing them using only his 'Combistick', as Guan'thwei had accidentally let slip. Each strike was precise and powerful. No hell-hound could creep up on him without Guan'thwei knowing and slicing right through the beast. It almost seemed to be a dance the way Guan'thwei swung and twirled the Combistick in his hands. Any human could've done that too.

With the last hell-hound killed, the last drop of blood spilt, Guan'thwei retracted his spear. Isabelle had arrived after skinning the hell-hound. "Oh, damn it, what is she doing?" she muttered under her breath as her eyes fell on to Sophie, who was striding over to Guan'thwei, his fallen master's Combistick in hand.

"Can you teach me how to fight?" She heard Sophie say, facing Guan'thwei, who was large and towered at least two feet over her. "I need to know how to protect myself."

Guan'thwei didn't even turn to face her. _"No,"_ he simply answered.

"Why not?" Sophie demanded, suddenly angry."

"Only...our...kind...can...train...together."

"But, I saved your life!" she protested.

"And... now...I'm...saving...yours..." Guan'thwei clicked in a calm voice, before moving forward to collect the numerous hell-hound bodies. He piled the heavy, several hundred pound monstrosities over his shoulder like they weighed nothing. Sophie clenched her jaw in irritation before she turned to stomp away. Isabelle who had been standing there, hurried to grab her by the arm.

"What are you doing?" Isabelle nearly choked under her breath, forcing her to stop. "Don't piss the thing off!"

"I need to learn how to fight!" Sophie exclaimed like a child.

"You already know how to fight! You managed to kill one of them! You're tougher than you think."

Sophie wasn't having any of it. "It's not _enough!"_ she retorted. "That was pure luck and I had help from everyone, including Guan'thwei!"

"I don't know what type of training he's had or how long he has been at this, but that thing is the epitome of the perfect killer," Isabelle explained in a calm voice. "Just let him do his own thing and then we'll be back home."

Sophie jerked her arm out of Isabelle's grip. "That's why I need to learn from him! He's the best at what he does! I need to do something—" She began.

Isabelle shook her head and interrupted, "—You're still just a child, you don't have to prove anything—"

"—This isn't about proving anything! I just wanna survive!" Her eyes were flashing with anger.

Isabelle watched Sophie stomp away, before letting out a sullen sigh. Once, the girl had given up on life and now she was consumed by it. She definitely needed to learn how to properly fight. But, even if Guan'thwei did attempt to train Sophie, it wouldn't make too much a difference. At least that's what Isabelle thought. She didn't plan on staying on this planet for long, course things could easily go the other way. They could just die here.

Aside from the Predators obvious strength and constitution, it was still very skilled in hand-to-hand combat and weaponry. They were substantially weaker than his kind. That was the way it is.

Isabelle went back to filleting the meat off the hell-hound. There was a rustling of footsteps behind her, they sounded lke they were stumbling. "I see you're doing all right, Izzy..." came the voice of Royce. "Can't say the same about Soph though."

Isabelle had been waiting for him to realize that they all needed to be a group in order to survive. She didn't look back right away, ripping the flesh of the hell-hound from its bones. She smiled to herself before replying, "Things could be better. Sophie is just so eager to—"

Isabelle turned around to see Royce, horrified upon seeing all the deep, bleeding gashes across his body. Royce looked like he was about to pass out before her. His dark hair was longer and unkempt, he was also growing quite the beard. Royce definitely looked like he was living in the wilderness. "Oh, Jesus!" she exclaimed, rushing towards him.

He collapsed in her arms. "I look like Jesus?..." Royce groaned once. "Guess I do need a hair...cut..."

When Sophie returned, her rough mood quickly dissipated upon catching Royce from falling over. She quickly glanced over his wounds. "What the fuck did you do this time?" she demanded. "Try to fight a Yautja?"

 _"Yow-cha?"_

"That's the name of Guan'thwei's species."

Royce snickered. "I liked 'Predator' better. Has a nice ring to it."

He noticed that Sophie wasn't wearing Edwin's red jacket, which somewhat relieved Royce. Anything that reminded him of the crazy doc made him uncomfortable. However, as the Predator apparently named Bakuub ripped some of Sophie's clothes off in his attempt to rape her, she had to take the jacket. But, the jungle made it too hot for her to wear. So, Sophie made a leather shirt from the hide of a hell-hounds she had hunted herself. It resembled a paper bag with poor thick, stringy stitches made from the tightened, tied skin of branches.

"Nice shirt." Royce commented with his smug smile, despite being so battered and bloody.

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Nice injuries."

She set out into the jungle to collect more comfy leaves, which had primarily composed their bedding. She helped Isabelle poultice his wounds using bran. There was a particularly bad claw mark that raked right across his chest and arm. It looked like Royce had gotten into a fight with a werewolf, or of course the latter always being, a foreign alien creature. He was definitely going to have some scars.

 _Just like mine._

Sophie felt over the groves of the cuts and slash marks from the night Kvar'thwei attacked her. She had gained even more since coming to this planet. But that didn't bother her anymore. Now, those scars gave proof that she survived and in the Yautja culture, were like badges of honor. A sign of strength and wisdom.

To their surprise, Guan'thwei returned with a handful of large, thick, fleshy leaves that had yellow and orange tubular flowers in the middle. It looked like some sort of aloe planted, which made her remember about aloe vera and its supposed healing affects for burns. Isabelle didn't dare ask what to do with them. Instead, she turned to Sophie. "What do I do with these?" she whispered.

"Maybe he wanted to give Royce a bouquet." Sophie joked.

Isabelle couldn't help but laugh. These past four months had been so tense with just trying to survive and make it day by day. It didn't hurt as much to laugh now. Sophie decided to grind the flowers in her makeshift mortar and pestle, which was basically a rounded rock on some flat hard wood. After what was probably thirty minutes, Sophie had made the paste and given it to Isabelle. The Israeli woman began applying the paste all over Royce's wounds. Sophie left, knowing those two wanted to spend some 'alone time' together. She'd rather not hear any of it.

Over the next three days it took Royce to recover, Sophie continued to scavenge materials from the jungle or from what the Bad Bloods gave her. Her raven hair was long and strewn across her shoulders, not in the braid like the first-time Royce met her. He liked it that way. "Infection's gone. I did my job," Isabelle stated. "You're free to go kill something else... What? Don't smile at me."

"I realized you were right. I'm becoming an animal," Royce confessed with that grin of his, lying shirtless in the leafy bed with warm furs. "Like him. Like Noland. I'm going to die here alone. We're all each other has out here, Izzy."

Isabelle had grasped Royce's hand with a smile. "You mean I'm all _you_ have," she corrected him. "You should change that. Sophie's still here too."

"It's not the same as having you," he replied.

"Of course not," Isabelle said, rolling her eyes.

Sophie looked away when Royce touched Isabelle's face and pulled her into a kiss. _About damn time._

Of course, Isabelle was glad to have Sophie around. It wasn't like she could really talk to Guan'thwei. She was the only other human being she could interact with. Though Sophie felt that communication with Royce was impossible.

 _Izzy needs the contact,_ Sophie told herself. _Even if Royce has some undesirable traits._

Isabelle wouldn't just let him die like Royce would probably do to them. She loved him too much for that. They all needed something that would bridge the gap between them, something that couldn't be denied. Not just with working together with Royce and caring about each others well-being, but Guan'thwei too. This simple alliance of theirs wasn't going to be enough. They were two factions living separately and just doing there own thing. Maybe three since Royce was turning into Tarzan, _looked_ like him too.

Sophie took a deep breath. The plan she had was a stupid one, but that was the only one her now nineteen-year-old brain could muster.

Things couldn't come to a head until later that night. The sun had set with the four moons rising high in the darkening sky, and rain was pouring down heavy, drenching them and turning the ground to med. Yet still, Guan'thwei was out training, fighting against any beast in the jungle. He was in the middle of taking a trophy from his latest kill. Sophie wasn't sure if it was a good idea to bother him during that, hell, even at all.

But she mustered up her courage and strode up to Guan'thwei with determination on her face. As Guan'thwei was about to decapitate the corpse of the strange, mangled bug-like creature, he stopped to briefly acknowledge Sophie. She was holding his fallen master's Combistick. "Got time for me?" Sophie asked in a hard voice, though internally she felt weak.

 _Not this again,_ the Yautja thought to himself, huffing out an exasperated sigh. It was annoying how this puny ooman thought she could be a fierce warrior like him and his kind. She was so tiny, so delicate. All it would take is a pinch and he could break her bone. It was a wonder how they even survived since they were so weak. Guan'thwei probably would've slit his own throat had he been a ooman. It was a fate he considered worse than death. He could still barely believe that this little ooman female suckling managed to kill his brother, who had been hailed as the strongest and deadliest of his generation. _If Kvar'thwei hadn't of been so arrogant, he wouldn't have died to this lame ooman…_

Of course, she had help from himself and the other oomans with their primitive weapons. But, this ooman had lasted for _so long._ Even the strongest of her kind had fallen to their knees before him. Collected as trophies. She couldn't have lasted this long just on luck. Though on the other hand…

 _No._

Guan'thwei immediately pushed out all of those thoughts from his mind.

 _No._

She wasn't one of his kind. She didn't belong with them. She would never be strong like him. He was becoming emotional and irrational like the oomans were. The thought infuriated him and filled his insides with disgust. "Step...aside...ooman…" he snapped, his mandibles clicking together.

"Make me," Sophie taunted. The tension in the heavy rain amped up a few degrees, feeling as though the jungle was blazing hot once more. As Sophie watched, she noticed his jaw working from underneath his silver mask as Guan'thwei contemplated her standing before him. The mask could hide his foreign face, but not all of his emotion.

Guan'thwei merely let out an irritated growl, before stepping towards Sophie with his wristblades drawn. This was beyond suicide, someone as inexperienced as Sophie fighting a seasoned warrior like himself who was three times her size and who knows how many more times as experienced. Yet, Sophie did not tremble or scream. She stood there knowing what she was up against. This ooman was either very brave, or very foolish. He would have to teach her a lesson.

The ooman held her own for a few short seconds, surprising the Yautja with the ferocity of her attack. She wasn't joking around. But, he was. Guan'thwei easily blocked a stabbing attack from Sophie with her Combistick. Her attempts at fighting were beyond pathetic. Slow and sloppy. Of course, she was untrained in combat. The ooman heaved the Combistick in the air like a sword before trying to bring it down upon Guan'thwei. He caught the Combistick in between his wristblades, preventing Sophie from using it. She tried to wrestle it back from him despite how futile it was given his immense strength. His free hand landed a swift punch to her side and then grabbed her arm to fling her into the ground as if she weighed nothing. It was a very rough throw to the ground too.

Sophie got up again, only to be punched in the back and face before being kicked to the chest and sent rolling across the mud again. It was at that point that Isabelle spotted them fighting. She strode forward and ordered Guan'thwei to stop the fight, but the Yautja ignored her, determined to remind the ooman never to make such a silly request again.

Guan'thwei quickly ripped the Combistick from Sophie, tossing it to the grass. No weapons were needed for this. He didn't need his wristblades to kill her, or even injure her, so Guan'thwei retracted them. He had been hoping that his weapons would be enough to scare her. But the oooman had been exposed to him and his kind for too long. She was becoming attached…fearless…this was a problem as the oomans should fear his kind.

Sophie staggered to her feet again, attempting to punch Guan'thwei—not that it would've hurt him, if anything, it felt like a gentle tap to the chest—only to take a strong uppercut to the chest and was thrown off her feet again. This knocked the wind out of Sophie, whose lungs deflated and found herself unable to breathe for a few moments.

Isabelle knew that if she stopped this fight, Sophie would never forgive her. It also didn't look like the Predator was going to kill Sophie as much as just 'lightly' beat her up. All she could do was grind her teeth with her muscles tensed as she watched the girl no older than nineteen get beaten up.

Despite being battered, beaten, and bruised, Sophie slowly rose to her feet once more. She refused to give up on the request. Sophie wished to see the look on the Predator's face. Of course, the stupid mask had to cover it. Isabelle was certain it was shocked by how resilient this human was despite being so weak. Exhausted, Sophie threw another weak punch at Guan'thwei. He easily caught her baby fist with his own large, scaled hand and twisted it, causing her to cry out in pain. Though Guan'thwei had to be extra, extra, extra careful not to break her wrist, as much as he wanted to. If she suffered so much as a broken bone, it would hinder Sophie's chances of survival on the planet and Guan'thwei would have to step in more to care for these oomans.

Guan'thwei slammed his fist once more into the feeble ooman's chest and sent her to all fours. What did this ooman think was going to happen? Guan'thwei brought his muscled leg back and kicked her in the stomach, causing her to scream. The momentum sent Sophie spiraling through the mud. This time, Sophie didn't get up. Or more like, couldn't get up. Isabelle could only hope that Sophie didn't break any bones. "You...oomans...so...weak..." Guan'thwei scoffed in his voice that sounded like he swallowed a porcupine. "So...pathetic..."

"And...yet...we killed Kvar'thwei..." Sophie said in between pants, wincing from speaking since her chest hurt badly. Guan'thwei nearly shrieked with outrage at the comment, but she remained devoid of all fear of him. "I know...I'll never be...as strong as you...but I know...that we are _strong_...just like Dutch was."

The Yautja didn't say anything for a few moments. She couldn't see his eyes, but Sophie could feel his stare. Secretly, Sophie wondered if this Yautja even knew who Dutch was. She doubted it. His kind hardly had any respect for her own. With a snort, the Yautja picked up his deceased master's Combistick before dashing into the jungle. The rain gave little relief to the beaten and bruised Sophie. She was freezing but didn't care. The defeat left her with little to care for at the moment.

Isabelle placed the wound Sophie in her own small hut that was a few yards away from hers. Sophie had insisted on having her own little hut. That made Isabelle chuckle on the inside. She briefly tended to her wounds before leaving the girl be. Luckily, nothing had been broken although Sophie definitely wouldn't be moving for a few days. She was going to be sore, sore, sore tomorrow. Now Isabelle had to check on Royce. When she told him of what happened, Royce couldn't help but snicker at the kid for that, "Typical Soph." He had said.

"You're not much better, Royce." Isabelle countered, gesturing to his own injuries. Sophie's wounds weren't quite as bad as when Kvar'thwei had attacked her in the past, but a beating was still a beating. Sophie would've more than likely needed to go to the ER for it. But, she seemed to be holding out just fine on her own. Not that any of them had a choice.

Sophie wondered if trying to show how serious she was about fighting was even worth the beating she got. Her body hurt, her muscles were sore, and there were already purple bruises forming all over her body. _Maybe I just made a fool of myself,_ she thought, looking up at the ceiling comprised of thick, heavy leaves. Her body ached and throbbed throughout the entire night, making it hard for to get what little sleep she wouldn't have been able to get otherwise.

However, Sophie awoke with the shock of her life when she saw the Combistick laying next to her face the next morning. Smiling, she extended her sore arm and grabbed the heavily decorated spear-like device in her hand. _Or maybe I just made some progress,_ Sophie thought.

Still, she knew had a long way to go if she was ever going to make it off this rock alive. Sophie pressed a button, causing a sharp blade on each end of the Combistick to fly out on each end. But, she had the tools that she needed to survive.

* * *

 **I always intended to write this chapter, just not literally four or five months later . There was a comic that was released which took place a couple of months after the Predators film of Royce and Isabelle surviving on the planet by themselves and ect. It's really badass and I recommend it. Won't spoil it for ya but it is definitely a good read.**

 **Sorry if it wasn't as climatic like the previous chapter where they were fighting a Predator to the death. I just felt like some good character development since we haven't seen much of Guan'thwei's character outside of the last couple chapters. As well as a lil Royce and Isabelle. It wasn't a very happy ending and I hope this chapter wasn't like those awful Disney sequels :p**

 **Thinking of writing a sequel with these characters. Let me know what you think and I hope you enjoyed the simple read. :)**


	16. Sequel Is Up - SUPER SORRY FOR TARDINESS

The sequel has been uploaded. Its called New Blood. Im aorry for the last announcement. I had the first 7 chapters written and then Microsoft word fucked it up. I dont know why it does that. Then I had school and qas piszed about all my lost work and blah blah blah.


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